Blue got a number of new cards int his set. Far more than white did. I've ranked the new printing below. An explanation of the rating can be found in the previous review article. Here are the new cards below:
Aether Adept
Limited - 4
Constructed - 4
This is a top pick in limited and should be plenty of constructed play as well. Man-o'-War was a constructed staple back when it was legal in standard. This card is not splash-able and therefore powerful because of the casting cost but will still see plenty of play.
Air Servant
Limited - 3
Constructed - 1
A nice beater in limited with a really powerful ability. It's a 5 cc creature that dies to lightning bolt though so don't expect it to show up in constructed decks.
Armored Cancrix
Limited - 2
Constructed - 1
A playable limited card that can lock up the ground. Nothing special here.
Augury Owl
Limited - 3
Constructed - 3
I really like this card. Sage owl was always so close to being good and this near reprint fixes it. Lot's of potential here and it might even see constructed play.
Call to Mind
Limited - 2
Constructed - 3
Might be useful in limited if you have a really powerful spell worth returning. That's unlikely though and I wouldn't spend any high picks on it. This thing will get restricted in Vintage. I'm envisioning ancestral recall and time walk abuse here.
Conundrum Sphinx
Limited - 3
Constructed - 3
A potent efficient flyer with an interesting ability begging to be abused. Good in either format but for different reasons. In limited it's just a big body that flies. In constructed it's a card drawing tool.
Diminish
Limited - 3
Constructed - 2
A decent removal option in limited for just about any deck. In constructed it offers a way for blue to deal with creatures they might not otherwise be able to handle. A decent sideboard card.
Frost Titan
Limited - 4
Constructed - 3
This thing is absurd in limited because it stomps all over the battlefield and locks up your opponents best creatures while doing it. In constructed it also could see play despite it's high casting cost. I like this card.
Harbor Serpent
Limited - 3
Constructed - 1
Nothing special here for constructed. It costs to much to be a threat to any blue mages. For limited play it is very good if you have the islands to support it. Then it's a nasty beater and will crush enemies with islands.
Jace's Erasure
Limited - 2
Constructed - 2
Remains to be seen if mill decks will be viable in either format. As with any mill card, it's only good if it's supported by other mill effects and essentially does nothing to your opponent until you mill the last card.
Jace's Ingenuity
Limited - 4
Constructed - 3
Concentrate was a potent card in any format. This card despite the extra colorless mana is probably better since it's an instant. I'd pick this high if I had the chance and I'd be surprised if this didn't make an impact in constructed.
Leyline of Anticipation
Limited - 2
Constructed - 3
Building a deck around this card would be very difficult to pull off in limited. Much easier to do in constructed. I'm not sure how people would use this effectively, but dropping massive creatures into play in the end step seems powerful to me. This is a strong combo enabler and maybe it will show up in extended or something.
Maritime Guard
Limited - 2
Constructed - 1
Pretty much filler. At least it's a merfolk.
Mass Polymorph
Limited - 1
Constructed - 3
Looks like a combo deck to me. Good look getting it to work. Spawn tokens and Eldrazi come to mind.
Merfolk Spy
Limited - 2
Constructed - 1
I suppose the islandwalk is useful out of a limited sideboard. 1/1 creatures with obscure abilities that don't generate card advantage don't really interest me.
Phantom Beast
Limited - 2
Constructed - 2
Illusionary Servant wasn't a terrible card. This one is similar but better on defense than offense. Might have some constructed use in a sideboard against creature heavy decks with little removal. Probably not though.
Preordain
Limited - 2
Constructed - 3
Solid library manipulation at an affordable price. Put it down next to Ponder in terms of usability. Will see play in many constructed decks, maybe even vintage.
Redirect
Limited - 2
Constructed - 3
A nice combat trick in any deck with heavy blue. I think it's mainly a sideboard card in any format however.
Scroll Thief
Limited - 3
Constructed - 3
This card is outstanding if you have the means of triggering it's ability. It's not as good as Shadowmage Infiltrator since it doesn't have evasion but Ophidian was pretty good back in the day. Nothing wrong with this card now. If you draft make sure you have a way to either evade blockers or make this thing bigger. In constructed combo with Aether Adept for significant opponent frustration.
Stormtide Leviathan
Limited - 3
Constructed - 2
Looks fantastic but I have no idea how we're supposed to get this thing into play by actually casting it. Worth a shot in limited if you can support the triple blue casting cost. In constructed it could be combo piece, especially in re-animator.
Time Reversal
Limited - 1
Constructed - 3
So this is another attempt at Timetwister which WOTC has rightfully decided isn't near the power level of ancestral recall and time walk. Still will probably show up in some combo decks at the vintage level. Otherwise worthless to the rest of us. Maybe try 4 of these in a deck stuffed with burn. That might have potential.
Water Servant
Limited - 3
Constructed - 2
This thing is quite good in limited and almost impossible to get rid of. If it had evasion is would be an amazing bomb. As it stands it's just very good for limited play. In constructed it's probably too pricey to have much of an impact on the format.
Blue got a number of powerful constructed cards from M11, especially in the older formats. I think it's safe to say Aether Adept is the most powerful new printing in the color. Decks running blue will be using this thing, it's just a matter of determining how many.
No comments:
Post a Comment