When last we conversed, I was telling you how White had another solid, but unspectacular outing. This should not have come as a surprise, since in Esperanto, the word “white” literally translates to “not too shabby.” I don’t actually know what the translation for “blue” happens to be in any language except English, but one gets the sense that it will once again be referred to by many of you as “completely f***ing retarded.” Since Time Spiral is a set meant to evoke massive waves of nostalgia, I am certain the designers meant it that way.
Here’s the rating breakdown:
**** – A card I consider “list worthy” for inclusion in my top ten cards in the set. (Purples get their own list.)
*** – A good Constructed card that offers something you want at a reasonable price
** – This card isn’t that great a deal, but it’s worth playing in the right situation or when there are few alternatives.
* – This card is unworthy of Constructed play. It might be a first pick Limited card, but that is beside the point.
There are no halves, and the system is intentionally approximate. If it’s close, I’ll chose one side or the other. If you want the real answer, read what I have to say. Like Zvi, I’m not here to soothe a card’s ego; they have sycophants and therapists for that.
Ancestral Vision
Sorcery (R)
Ancestral Vision is blue.
Suspend 4 – {U} (Rather than play this card from your hand, pay {U} and remove it from the game with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost.)
Target player draws three cards.
We start our Blue review with the card that might just be the best in the set. Who cares if you have to wait four turns for it to resolve, it only costs you U to “cast” it! Okay, fine, people drawing this on turn 7 care, but I don’t think that’s enough to stop you from playing it. Before then, it demolishes card advantage wars, and more Remands will likely be tossed at this card in control-on-control battles than at any other card in the block. Aggressive decks want to play this. Control decks also want to play this. Some decks might even splash Blue just for a chance to resolve this in the midgame.
Just like its cousin in Vintage, this card will be swingy as hell, and just like in Vintage, it will just win games. There’s a downside here that says it is completely uncastable, meaning when you need it most, it’s not going to help you. The trick is simply not to need it, something I have successfully achieved through a process of playtesting and deep meditation.
Another factoid to keep in mind is that if this spell resolves with Eye of the Storm, it’s no longer suspended for any future resolutions. Those of you who love a combo deck should be doing backflips in your chairs. And this card in particular may force Mind’s Desire to be banned in Extended, though that is just wild speculation on my part.
Rating: ****
Bewilder – 2U
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
Draw a card.
“Teferi snapped his fingers, and the viashino started clucking like a chicken. Silly, yes, but exactly the thing we needed to break the stifling tension.” -Jhoira, master artificer
This is a spell you expect to pay one for in Limited, and it costs you two more to draw the card. It’s never going to see play in Constructed.
Rating: *
Brine Elemental – 4UU
Creature – Elemental (U)
Morph {5}{U}{U} (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Brine Elemental is turned face up, each opponent skips his or her next untap step.
Water calls to water, and the world is left exhausted and withered in its wake.
5/4
Let’s break this salty dog down and see what we are really getting. For 4UU you get a vanilla 5/4, which is about what you’d expect from Ninth Edition. Time Spiral is an expert level set. Experts expect, nay demand, more. If you don’t want to pay the sticker price, you can cast it as a morph, and then for seven more mana, you get to Exhaustion your opponent and you get the 5/4. I’d probably pay 3UU for the morph ability and try to find a use for it in Constructed, but 5UU relegates it to the unplayable pile.
Rating: *
Cancel – 1UU
Instant (C)
Counter target spell.
Fendros gasped as he watched the spell drip from the ends of his fingers. He moved his foot, afraid to disturb the spot where it lay slain.
I’ll be honest with you — I didn’t want to see this card printed quite yet. Don’t get me wrong, unlike every other person you’d battle against in the casual room on Magic Online or MWS, I don’t dislike counterspells. In fact, I love them. But I also like what the design constraint of not printing this card has done for Magic. Now that we finally have “1UU — Counter target spell” I don’t know if it’s welcome anymore. Hinder isn’t seeing much play at the moment, and while I think CONTROL (writ large and with additional gravitas, like Ian McKellen standing next to a black hole) will be a very formidable strategy for Champs and Worlds, I’m not sure Cancel will see much more play than its Kamigawa cousin. It’s good, but decks might not need it just yet. I think it will appear a lot once Ravnica rotates out, but for now know that this exists, that it’s a lot better than Rewind, and that you probably want to get four foil copies of it while the prices are still reasonable.
Rating: ***
Careful Consideration – 2UU
Instant (U)
Target player draws four cards, then discards three cards. If you played this spell during your main phase, instead that player draws four cards, then discards two cards.
“Sages who take the time to verify their sources are rewarded for their diligence.” -Jhoira, to Teferi
Instant speed card drawing? Hot damn! Not so fast, my friends. Magic players of the current generation will jump through hoops to play decent card drawing spells in ways that the old school never would have considered. As an instant, this card is merely a selection tool that will allow you to cycle through the chaff in return for good stuff. As a sorcery, you get a modest boost of card advantage and one that is probably worth playing, but it’s still nothing special. Then again, nothing special in olden times is pretty solid in these hardbitten days. I have dwelled upon it and expect this to see considerable play.
Rating: ****
Clockspinning – U
Instant (C)
Buyback {3} (You may pay an additional {3} as you play this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Choose a counter on target permanent or suspended card. Remove that counter from that permanent or card or put another of those counters on it.
For 3U, you can Time Walk a suspend card in your favor and get a chance to do it again at a later date. Suspend cards are apparently powerful enough that this cost is necessary, because it certainly seems a bit on the expensive side if you want to do it more than once. If a deck really needs this to accelerate or some other suspend deck gets out of control, then it will see play. Otherwise it’s just another one of countless mechanic hosers that won’t see much play.
Rating: **
Coral Trickster – 1U
Creature – Merfolk Rogue (C)
Morph {U} (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Coral Trickster is turned face up, you may tap or untap target permanent.
They wait in darkened depths, laughing eagerly.
2/1
This card would be downright hot if its morph ability were actually a comes-into-play ability instead. Sadly, you have to pay 3U to access the twiddle fish, which is a bit too much. Oh well…
Rating: *
Crookclaw Transmuter – 3U
Creature – Bird Wizard (C)
Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.)
Flying
When Crookclaw Transmuter comes into play, switch target creature’s power and toughness until end of turn.
3/1
Casting it at instant speed doesn’t turn a bad creature into a good one.
Rating: *
Deep-Sea Kraken – 7UUU
Creature – Kraken (R)
Deep-Sea Kraken is unblockable.
Suspend 9 – {2}{U}
Whenever an opponent plays a spell, if Deep-Sea Kraken is suspended, remove a time counter from it.
The rift remained open for days, sluicing ancient seawater. It closed only after the last great tentacle squirmed its way through.
6/6
This is where things get tricksy. I personally think this guy is bad, but Star Wars Kid says it’s not terrible, because it gives your opponent an incentive not to cast spells. Assuming this occurs, you probably get a 6/6 unblockable around turn 9… not the best, but it could certainly be worse. Nevertheless, I’m going to fly the skeptic flag and tell you this won’t see much play.
Rating: **
Draining Whelk – 4UU
Creature – Illusion (R)
Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.)
Flying
When Draining Whelk comes into play, counter target spell. Put X +1/+1 counters on Draining Whelk, where X is that spell’s converted mana cost.
1/1
X.
Pen.
Sieve.
Overwhelming Intellect didn’t see play, but it also didn’t deliver you a hefty flying beater in exchange. It merely drew you cards…
Let’s start this over — when have you ever seen a six-mana counterspell get much play? How about a six-mana 2/2 (worst case scenario)?
This isn’t quite turning out how I wanted to. Let’s try plain speech. Of course this will see a lot of play (it really won’t). In spite of its extreme cost, the benefit of sneaking a creature into play at instant speed in response to your opponent’s spell will push this over the top, and Draining Whelk will become a new staple card in Blue decks (it really won’t — it’s niche at best).
All of those statements are true, honest. In multiplayer. (Okay, maybe there it will.)
Rating: **
Dream Stalker – 1U
Creature – Illusion (C)
When Dream Stalker comes into play, return a permanent you control to its owner’s hand.
What happens when it is the dream that wakes and the sleeper that fades into memory?
1/5
A classic bad combo-enabler. Probably not in Standard or perhaps even in any other format, but it could be, and that makes it better than Accursed Centaur or something equally silly.
Rating: *
Drifter Il-Dal – U
Creature – Human Wizard (C)
Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Drifter il-Dal unless you pay {U}.
They study the deeds of their traitorous ancestors, hoping the stories may reveal a way back to the physical world.
2/1
Blue evasive Savannah Lions? If there is a Blue Skies/Fish deck out there, then this guy might see some heavy play. If not, he’s a monkey with only two asses, and is of uncertain usefulness. If Curiosity had been in the base set, this would have been a mortal lock to see lots of play. With only Moldervine Cloak and Unstable Mutation to work with, he’ll likely still make the team, though competition for his spot is fast and furious.
Rating: ***
Errant Ephemeron – 6U
Creature – Illusion (C)
Flying
Suspend 4 – {1}{U} (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay {1}{U} and remove it from the game with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
4/4
Full price on Errant Ephemeron is a terrible deal. For seven mana we can get Angel of Despair, for six you can have Niv-Mizzet, and for eight you get Akroma. None of those, however, are suspendable. If you can stand the suspense, you get a 4/4 hasted flyer on turn 6. Moroii is a flying 4/4 on turn 4. None of the ways you compare Ephemeron to other creatures in the format add up to “playable”.
Rating: *
Eternity Snare – 5U
Enchantment – Aura (C)
Enchant creature
When Eternity Snare comes into play, draw a card.
Enchanted creature doesn’t untap during its controller’s untap step.
Uhm… no.
Rating: *
Fathom Seer – 1U
Creature – Illusion (C)
Morph – Return two Islands you control to their owner’s hand. (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Fathom Seer is turned face up, draw two cards.
1/3
It’s Gush on a stick. Except instead of being free, it costs you three mana plus the two Islands, so it always costs full price. That certainly makes it “fixed,” in the same fashion that one would “fix” a dog or a cat. Ask the animal how it feels about that process. Control decks don’t want to pay the price in development, aggro decks don’t like his stats, and combo decks don’t care. Sometimes nostalgia just makes you sad.
Rating: *
Fledgling Mawcor – 3U
Creature – Beast (U)
Flying
{T}: Fledgling Mawcor deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Morph {U}{U} (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
2/2
Another Limited morph only.
Rating: *
Fool’s Demise – 4U
Enchantment – Aura (U)
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, return that creature to play under your control.
When Fool’s Demise is put into a graveyard from play, return Fool’s Demise to its owner’s hand.
Strike 1: Enchant Creature
Strike 2: 4U
Strike 3: It is very, very niche in application.
It lets you create an infinite, zero-mana net combo with Composite Golem in Extended. Not that that’s good or anything (though a Comp Golem deck did see play two Extended seasons ago with Corpse Dance + buyback as the vehicle before a giant Brain Freeze milled you out), I was just trying to think of something to do with it.
Rating: *
Ixidron – 3UU
Creature – Illusion (R)
As Ixidron comes into play, turn all other nontoken creatures in play face down. They’re 2/2 creatures.
Ixidron’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of face-down creatures in play.
*/*
This is a very interesting trump in creature-on-creature battles, assuming you have either unmorphed creatures you want to reuse, or some way to win a battle of the bears. Standard’s power-level will be too high for Ixidron to matter, but keep him in mind for something clever in Block or goofy theme decks. At the very least it makes you think about what you could do with the ability, which is itself notable.
Rating: **
Looter Il-Kor – 1U
Creature – Kor Rogue (C)
Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)
Whenever Looter il-Kor deals damage to an opponent, draw a card, then discard a card.
Unable to touch items of value, he goes forth to steal secrets instead.
1/1
Little, Blue, Different. There’s a lot to be said for a proactive Merfolk Looter (some call him “Thought Courier”). Looter type cards are typically featured in aggro-control and strange combo decks, and Mr. Il-Kor is actually at his best there. As I noted before, if some sort of Skies strategy emerges, he’ll do work there, and don’t count him out for reanimation strategies either.
Rating: ***
Magus of the Jar – 3UU
Creature – Human Wizard (R)
{T}, Sacrifice Magus of the Jar: Each player removes his or her hand from the game face down and draws seven cards. At end of turn, each player discards his or her hand and returns to his or her hand each card he or she removed from the game this way.
3/3
While Magus of the Disk is guaran-damn-teed to be annoying at some point in its life span, Magus of the Jar is certainly not. It could be good, but it has to be good while being summoning sick and considerably more fragile than its artifact forefather, something most combo decks (which is where Jar saw play) are not interested in dealing with. This seems to have the most potential in some sort of reanimator build, or an archetype that has yet to manifest. Jarhead is solid, but not of the same caliber of his papa or Mag-nificent brethren.
Rating: **
Moonlace – U
Instant (R)
Target spell or permanent becomes colorless.
Once a vision of constancy in the sky, the moon had long been hidden from view by the haze that chokes the heavens. The very sight of it had become a sign that change was in the air.
Look ma, they made a Pale Moon joke.
Rating: [This space deliberately left blank]
Mystical Teachings – 3U
Instant (C)
Search your library for an instant card or a card with flash, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Flashback {5}{B} (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)
How good Mystical Teachings is depends entirely on the cards it can fetch. Teferi is a spicy meatsaball, and there are cards like Think Twice that make solid targets, but are still going to cost a chunk of mana to make it worthwhile. I’m of the opinion that it’s a bit too expensive unless you are desperate for one or two cards to make your deck work. A reusable tutor is nice, but it still costs four and six to cast and carries a sizeable restriction in what it can fetch, making it useful almost exclusively in the long game.
Rating: **
Ophidian Eye – 2U
Enchantment – Aura (C)
Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.)
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.
Because of the Flash, you are virtually guaranteed to get a replacement card for your trouble. That said, Ophidian Eye is one mana too expensive to see Standard play, clearly an intentional choice made by R&D so that this would not make a dent in the format.
Rating: **
Paradox Haze – 2U
Enchantment – Aura (U)
Enchant player
At the beginning of enchanted player’s first upkeep each turn, that player gets an additional upkeep step after this step.
“Keep your pace steady through the haze, lest you step on the heels of your future self or trip the self a moment behind you.” —Teferi
I’ll let you in on a little secret — if they let the brilliant Chris Millar preview a card, it is highly unlikely that the card is going to see much play in Standard.
Rating: *
Psionic Sliver – 4U
Creature – Sliver (R)
All Slivers have “{T}: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player and 3 damage to itself.”
They evolved the ability to concentrate their neural activity into a single pulse, causing a disruptive but usually suicidal blast of psionic energy.
2/2
There’s one key phrase in Psionic Sliver that makes it intriguing. Can you guess what it is?
That’s right, “Target creature or player.” That gives a horde of slivers surprising reach and flexibility, and what takes an unplayable and turns it into something worthy of note. What do you care if your little slivers are exterminating themselves if they kill your opponent in the process?
Something to note: If you end up playing a competitive Slivers deck, you are actually required to break out the full spectrum of Aliens quotes, including Bill Paxton impressions and asking your opponent if he’s ever been mistaken for a man.
Rating: **
Riftwing Cloudskate – 3UU
Creature – Illusion (U)
Flying
When Riftwing Cloudskate comes into play, return target permanent to its owner’s hand.
Suspend 3 – {1}{U} (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay {1}{U} and remove it from the game with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
2/2
A 2/2 flyer in Blue will cost you 2U, or maybe 1U with a drawback. Add a strong ability to the card (like Riftwing Cloudskate sports) and it will cost you more, but it’s just a 2/2 flyer. The suspend makes this more intriguing, especially for a Hoodwink-style Blue deck, but probably not so interesting that you want to jump over hurdles dealing with the timing (three turns) or the cost (3UU). Cloudskate will be very good in draft.
Rating: **
Sage of Epityr – U
Creature – Human Wizard (C)
When Sage of Epityr comes into play, look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
Clairvoyants across Dominaria were driven mad by the overload from the widening time rifts, while other random folk gained the gift of future sight.
1/1
Sage of Epityr won’t see any play, but it’s about as cheap as you can expect to find this ability. Not that you care to find it, but if you did (and if Sensei’s Divining Top hadn’t been around), it wouldn’t cost you anything. I have officially stopped making sense, and we’re only two days in. Good thing there are special guest stars lined up.
Rating: *
Screeching Sliver – U
Creature – Sliver (C)
All Slivers have “{T}: Target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.”
“What wears down my people most, I think, is not the danger, but the endless screeching outside our camp.” -Merrik Aidar, Benalish patrol
1/1
As I mentioned previously, slivers are really tough to judge, because you never know exactly which slivers are going to push their insidious lemming brothers into a critical mass, should they actually be any good in the first place. This little guy is cheap and he comes with a sound ability. Sadly, it’s unlikely that you will want this ability in sliver.dec, and it’s a fact that the little man is not good enough to see play on his own.
Rating: *
Shadow Sliver – 2U
Creature – Sliver (C)
All Slivers have shadow. (They can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)
These slivers, trapped between worlds since the Rathi overlay, are among the last to claim direct lineage from the lost Sliver Queen.
1/1
Another underpowered sliver on stats, another sliver with a powerful ability. I see a pattern, but one that won’t be any good unless we actually get some find some of these little alien bastards with good enough stats to stand on their own. (Yes, I know about Sedge Sliver… I meant besides him.)
Rating: **
Slipstream Serpent – 7U
Creature – Serpent (C)
Slipstream Serpent can’t attack unless defending player controls an Island.
When you control no Islands, sacrifice Slipstream Serpent.
Morph {5}{U} (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
6/6
You will not be “slipping ye olde serpent” into anyone in Standard.
Rating: *
Snapback – 1U
Instant (C)
You may remove a blue card in your hand from the game rather than pay Snapback’s mana cost.
Return target creature to its owner’s hand.
“If it returns years hence, our knowledge of how to combat it will be that much greater.” -Andorel, Tolarian sentinel
A fixed “Snap.” How good would actual Snap be in Urzatron Blue or something similar? Pretty solid. Despite the equally funkadelic name, Snapback on the other hand, does not hold a candle to its combo-powering cousin.
Rating: *
Spell Burst – XU
Instant (U)
Buyback {3} (You may pay an additional {3} as you play this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Counter target spell with converted mana cost X.
The brutish mage’s version of thinking.
Now here’s a spell I like. If you need to burn it in the early game, you can, and then it gives you some major upside against aggressive decks in the late game, keeping pesky weenies and burn spells off you turn after turn. On the other hand, Spell Blast was always slightly underpowered, but it never gave you the option to buy it back either. Even slightly underpowered, a decent counterspell with buyback seems re-tah-ded good.
Rating: ***
Spiketail Drakeling – 1UU
Creature – Drake (C)
Flying
Sacrifice Spiketail Drakeling: Counter target spell unless its controller pays {2}.
Drakelings fish with their tails, angling to snare succulent thoughts and memories on their psychic hooks.
2/2
I have a confession to make. I love Spiketails. Have since Masques block, and was rather sad when Forsythe left Hatchling out of Ninth Edition. Obviously then, I am a little biased toward Spiketail Drakeling. I see it as another excellent card for some Blue Skies or White/Blue Weenie deck circa French Nationals. More sensible people will see the extra U in its mana cost and conclude that the Drakeling is just a hair too expensive for what it does. Clearly, I think I am in the right — it is quietly very good.
Rating: ***
Sprite Noble – 1UU
Creature – Faerie (R)
Flying
Other creatures you control with flying get +0/+1.
{T}: Other creatures you control with flying get +1/+0 until end of turn.
“By thorn and by stone, we will fight to see the day when beauty returns to this world.”
2/2
To be successful, Aggro Blue will likely have both Shadow and Flying creatures. Sprite Noble pumps one, misses the other, but will give a boost to White flyers… I don’t think it will earn a slot, just because the other options appear to be better, and because it has to pump at least three other creatures to make up for the fact that it’s not attacking. Flip the abilities and it might be a house.
Rating: **
Stormcloud Djinn – 4U
Creature – Djinn (U)
Flying
Stormcloud Djinn can block only creatures with flying.
{R}{R}: Stormcloud Djinn gets +2/+0 until end of turn and deals 1 damage to you.
As fickle as lightning, as slippery as an eel.
3/3
Make this a 4/4 and you’ve got a deal. As a 3/3 with benefits at a cost, I am considerably less interested. Maybe in block… maybe.
Rating: **
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir – 2UUU
Legendary Creature – Human Wizard (R)
Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.)
Creature cards you own that aren’t in play have flash.
Each opponent can play spells only any time he or she could play a sorcery.
To save this plane, he must forsake all others.
3/4
I was surprised with the underwhelmed response when this card was previewed. This is a planeswalker in creature form, people. As such, Teferi is willing and able to do some bad ass sh**. Put him in play and he’s Superfly TNT. He’s Guns of the Navarone. I don’t know if he’s a mushroom-cloud-layin’ motherf***er, but honestly, I wouldn’t put it past him.
In short, Teferi is a bad ass, and one that fails to disappoint. He’s only slightly undersized for the cost, and you get to cast him as an instant. Additionally, all your other creatures are now instants, and your opponent’s tricks are completely stymied. Last but not least, it shuts down opposing suspend spells, since they trigger during upkeep — a time that is notably not one of those occasions where you can play sorceries. I’m guessing you know this already, but Teferi is a complete and utter smashing if he sticks around against another control deck. He may be just a touch too Blue to see massive play, but he’s certainly a flagship for the set and one that wants entire archetypes built around him.
Rating: ****
Telekinetic Sliver – 2UU
Creature – Sliver (U)
All Slivers have “{T}: Tap target permanent.”
“Slivers are guided only by simple instinct. Advance the hive, and you will be welcomed. Impede the hive, and you will face unrelenting opposition.” -Freyalise
2/2
Blue is the sliver support color, but one that has apparently gets absolutely awesome abilities. Here’s another one, one with an ability so good that I find myself wondering if we’ll see Hivestones running around in Sliver/Saproling decks for a new Squirrel-Opposition throwback. I’m naturally suspicious of this deck actually working (remember, when slivers were good, they had a lot of solid bears to choose from), but TK Sliver is certainly an incentive to try. He has good initials too.
Rating: ***
Temporal Eddy – 2UU
Sorcery (C)
Put target creature or land on top of its owner’s library.
As the temporal fractures spread and time itself slowly fell apart, visitors started to appear from across the past and future, and those native to the present began to disappear.
Temporal Spring was in Apocalypse and only saw play in Block. Temporal Eddy is worse, though I’m sure somebody out there will try to make it work.
Rating: *
Think Twice – 1U
Instant (C)
Draw a card.
Flashback {2}{U} (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)
“Great books are meant to be read, then read again backwards or upside down!” -Ettovard, Tolarian archivist
Deep Analysis this is not, but Think Twice is still solid. There have been times recently where Blue mages are willing to play Inspiration, and this is better than Inspiration because in spite of costing one mana more in total, it’s more versatile. You get to cycle for land in the early game and still have it around for use later when the pressure is off. Expect Think Twice to be the new standard in instant speed card drawing. No, I don’t like it either, and it may not even see that much play because it’s sandwiched between Careful Consideration and Whispers in the card drawing mana curve, but it’s still solid.
Rating: ***
Tolarian Sentinel – 3U
Creature – Human Spellshaper (C)
Flying
{U}, {T}, Discard a card: Return target permanent you control to its owner’s hand.
“It is not just our people I try to rescue. It is our culture, and our hope that we can return to greatness.”
1/3
Not good enough.
Rating: *
Trickbind – 1U
Instant (R)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t play spells or activated abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Counter target activated or triggered ability. If a permanent’s ability is countered this way, activated abilities of that permanent can’t be played this turn. (Mana abilities can’t be targeted.)
Trickbind is very, very good at what it does. It’s almost exclusively a playable sideboard card, but Split Second earns it an extra star. Watch your fetch lands, boys and girls.
Rating: ***
Truth or Tale – 1U
Instant (U)
Reveal the top five cards of your library and separate them into two piles. An opponent chooses one of those piles. Put a card from the chosen pile into your hand, then put all other cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in any order.
Take Fact or Fiction. Flip it around. Then instead of getting a pile, you only get to choose one card from the pile of your opponent’s choice, at (admittedly) half the cost. Is that card going to be any good?
Well, it’s still interactive, so that’s fun. It’s also decent card selection, but so is Telling Time. The killing blow here is dealt when you realize that, unlike Fact or Fiction, if you flip over the one card you absolutely want and your opponent knows it, you don’t get the card. Add one mana to this spell and make it “Put one or two cards from the pile in your hand” and you have an excellent spell (though it’s likely too good due to all the other card drawing in this set). Here you have something cute, but probably unworthy of your consideration.
Rating: *
Vesuvan Shapeshifter – 3UU
Creature – Shapeshifter (R)
As Vesuvan Shapeshifter comes into play or is turned face up, you may choose another creature in play. If you do, until Vesuvan Shapeshifter is turned face down, it becomes a copy of that creature and gains “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may turn this creature face down.”
Morph {1}{U}
0/0
Vesuvan Morphleganger. This card is such a bad boy that it forced a change in the rules just to make it work. I approve, and not simply because I was around to play the original Vesuvan incarnation (which was much cuter, by the way). Now… is the card any good? I’m going to put my balls on the line here with a definitive “I don’t know.” I like it, I want to try to play it, and I want it to be good. That doesn’t mean it is. In fact, if I’m not immediately sure it’s good, it’s unlikely to be that way.
Switching sources of confusion, what is required for this card to be good? Well, you need other creatures in play that you care about copying. Kamigawa dragons would have been a fine choice for such copying. Now? Who knows… the current format looks to be weenies and bunch of control decks still searching for adequate win conditions. That leads me to believe the Shapeshifter doesn’t make the cut, but I could be wrong here and you are welcome to prove it so.
Rating: **
Viscerid Deepwalker – 4U
Creature – Homarid Warrior (C)
{U}: Viscerid Deepwalker gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Suspend 4 – {U} (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay {U} and remove it from the game with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
2/3
Rating: *
Voidmage Husher – 3U
Creature – Human Wizard (U)
Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.)
When Voidmage Husher comes into play, counter target activated ability. (Mana abilities can’t be targeted.)
Whenever you play a spell, you may return Voidmage Husher to its owner’s hand.
2/2
In a spell, this is an ability you expect to pay less than U for. Attach it to a bear, make it castable as an instant, and insert a chance of reusability, and apparently it costs 3U. One mana less and it’s both clever and playable, though perhaps only out of sideboards. At this cost, it’s still clever…
Rating: *
Walk the Aeons – 4UU
Sorcery (R)
Buyback – Sacrifice three Islands. (You may sacrifice three Islands in addition to any other costs as you play this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Target player takes an extra turn after this one.
Time Warp was good, and might see play if it were around today. Time Stop, in spite of being quite spiffy and good at many things including being an instant (which is a good thing to be good at), saw almost no play. This costs the same as Time Stop, is less versatile, and you have to cast it as a sorcery… and it still flirts with you, hoping you’ll buck up the courage to ask it to dance.
TimWilloughby: here’s a question for you… how many times do you have to buy back Walk of Aeons in order to take an extra Aeon?
TimWilloughby: seems like it must be a few right?
Knutson: yeah, I don’t think you can have enough Islands in play for that to happen
Knutson: unless you are a member of Your Move Games, in which case the answer is 4 or 5
Rating: **
Wipe Away – 1UU
Instant (U)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t play spells or activated abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Return target permanent to its owner’s hand.
An eyeblink later, all that remained of the tree-beast was the breeze of its momentum.
It’s Boomerang with a perk that is likely irrelevant at a slightly higher cost. This may give Blue land destruction decks critical mass. If not, however, it won’t see any play at all in the upcoming Standard.
Rating: **
Conclusions
Blue is really good in the same way that pictures of hot chicks in thongs are really good. It delivers the best card drawing in Standard since Thirst for Knowledge, and in much greater volume and variety than at any point in recent memory. Blue aggro has a host of new evasive options; two of the slivers are practically archetype-worthy; Trickbind might be the best card of its type ever printed; and then there’s Teferi, Spell Burst, and some silly card with Ancestral in its name. (Yes, I know you will probably tell me it is overhyped. We’ll revisit this in a year.) Everyone who plays competitive Magic and hates Blue is probably going to be miserable for some time to come.
Me? I just hope the other colors aren’t any better than Blue, or we might actually be playing Extended-level decks in Standard.
Tomorrow: Back in Black.