the video. Definitely a good reprint for the Jeskai deck, but I'm afraid it won't do much to impact the singleton price of the card for cash-strapped pauper players.
So the Sultai commander pretty much goes infinite on a dime with Cloudstone Curio in colours that give it access to Brain Freeze and Tendrils of Agony. I blame small print on the preview images on my phone
On the one hand, that's fourteen very distinct decks, which indicates a very diverse metagame. On the other, you have eight different decks running Astrolabe, which suggests that it's warping.
However, I believe that of the eight decks on this list running Astrolabe, none of them exist solely by virtue of Astrolabe. They are all decks that could function quite well without them. And the decks that don't run Astrolabe don't seem to be built specifically to counter it. Most of them have some form of artifact removal in the sideboard, but that's just common sense. And non-Astrolabe decks obviously still have a fighting chance. Downshifting Shatterstorm to deal with Astrolabe is chainsaw surgery.
Now this is of course a relatively small sample size. But I believe that a card needs better reasons to be banned than just 'It's played a lot at the moment.' Definitely worth watching, but I don't believe it currently affects the meta to the point that a ban is warranted.
One of the more interesting uses of Astrolabe on that list is the Affinity deck that cut nearly half of its artifact land base in favour of snow lands for the splash.
Wow, I had completely forgotten that there were any commons in that cycle. Seems like an awesome sideboard option against Faeries and such for any deck running green. I don't know why we don't see it more often.
I'm personally waiting to see if some sort of Soldevi Adnate combo deck pops up. It seems that most of the pieces are in place - Tortured Existence as a recursion engine, Gurmag Angler as a creature that can generate more mana than it costs to cast. I'm mostly curious as to what the payoff would be - Soul Burn?
The CMC on Squad Captain seems way too steep for the kind of decks that would make it reliably big. Martyr's Soul gives us something way better in that role.
Nothing special yet. I would have absolutely loved Veil of Summer at common. I understand why they didn't do it, but how cool would it have been to have a card that's basically Green Elemental Blast? It would have been an awesome sideboard card for so many decks.
One card I think might be worth considering that I missed in this article is Gallant Cavalry. Two 2/2 bodies with Vigilance for 3W seems like a good deal.
Prismatic Strands
So the Sultai commander pretty much goes infinite on a dime with Cloudstone Curio in colours that give it access to Brain Freeze and Tendrils of Agony.I blame small print on the preview images on my phone18 decks went 5-0. The archtype breakdown of those is as follows:
Astro-Boros (including variants): 3
Jeskai Ephemerate: 2
Affinity: 1
Azorius Blink Combo: 1
Blink Tron: 1
Bogles: 1
Burn: 1
Elves: 1
Izzet Delver: 1
Mono-blue Delver: 1
Mono-green aggro: 1
Mono-red Aggro: 1
Mono-white Heroic: 1
Sultai Defender Combo: 1
Rainbow Tron: 1
On the one hand, that's fourteen very distinct decks, which indicates a very diverse metagame. On the other, you have eight different decks running Astrolabe, which suggests that it's warping.
However, I believe that of the eight decks on this list running Astrolabe, none of them exist solely by virtue of Astrolabe. They are all decks that could function quite well without them. And the decks that don't run Astrolabe don't seem to be built specifically to counter it. Most of them have some form of artifact removal in the sideboard, but that's just common sense. And non-Astrolabe decks obviously still have a fighting chance. Downshifting Shatterstorm to deal with Astrolabe is chainsaw surgery.
Now this is of course a relatively small sample size. But I believe that a card needs better reasons to be banned than just 'It's played a lot at the moment.' Definitely worth watching, but I don't believe it currently affects the meta to the point that a ban is warranted.
One of the more interesting uses of Astrolabe on that list is the Affinity deck that cut nearly half of its artifact land base in favour of snow lands for the splash.