Standard/block: Three mana for a card that is marginally better than Divination in a best case scenario, and a useless turn 3+4 drop is not going to see play.
other formats: I dunno, but there are probably plenty of better options available
Being able to draw 6 extra cards by your next turn is really strong for Standard. In a deck that has a very low curve and just wants to draw burn to close out a game I could see that being worthwhile.
I think this is the way to play it, if it's playable at all. Maybe some kind of RW hyper aggro/burn.
Or some kind of ritual based combo, but I don't foresee that happening in standard...
A loaded pack. Benalish Trapper, Expunge, Æther Mutation, Brago and Armadillo Cloak are all 1st pick quality, imo. In the end I choose Trapper because a cheap tapper is that good and it doesn't commit me to two colors.
I don't recall Battle Screech being nowhere as dominating in limited as Lingering Souls was, though. Battle Screech seems playable only heavy white decks (at least 5 white creatures, imo). LS is splashable, whereas BS is not. The flashback cost of BS is virtually impossible if the card somehow ends up in your graveyard without you casting it.
Oh, and FoF was awesome in limited in its time too
Imo, the Special rarity would be perfectly acceptable if WotC used your reasoning ("Power should be extra rare/expensive"). Now they're trying to sell it off as something it's obviously not ("Too good for limited").
They probably do, they just don't want to say that. To blatantly say to your prosepective customers: we're going to do something to keep it expensive is deemed bad marketing. Listen to this podcast with Bruce Richards (the writer for of the casual/multiplayer collumn on the mothership), where Erin asks if there is anything different from writing for a third party website than for the mothership. He notes that it isn't very different, except he can't use the word 'expensive', but has to use the acronym 'difficult to aquire'.
You are probably right. Still, I find it mildly offensive that they retort to half-lies to justify their actions.
I'm calling bull***** on the "Special" rarity. If some cards are too powerful for limited they are still too powerful even if you make them twice as rare. It's $$$-grabbing and nothing else.
Even if true, that's a bad thing?
It's also to help the online economy as sirgog pointed out. Power 9 SHOULD be expensive. They are iconic. If they're not the most expensive cards, that's crap.
Imo, the Special rarity would be perfectly acceptable if WotC used your reasoning ("Power should be extra rare/expensive"). Now they're trying to sell it off as something it's obviously not ("Too good for limited").
I'm calling bull***** on the "Special" rarity. If some cards are too powerful for limited they are still too powerful even if you make them twice as rare. It's $$$-grabbing and nothing else.
2. Varied archetypes to draft (and its corollary - flexible pick orders within each color)
This is what makes magic interesting for me, and the principle applies both to limited and constructed play. The last sets I really enjoyed drafting are 3x INN and MMA. Constructed sadly has become too focused on creature bashing for me lately.
other formats: I dunno, but there are probably plenty of better options available
I think this is the way to play it, if it's playable at all. Maybe some kind of RW hyper aggro/burn.
Or some kind of ritual based combo, but I don't foresee that happening in standard...
Oh, and FoF was awesome in limited in its time too
You are probably right. Still, I find it mildly offensive that they retort to half-lies to justify their actions.
Imo, the Special rarity would be perfectly acceptable if WotC used your reasoning ("Power should be extra rare/expensive"). Now they're trying to sell it off as something it's obviously not ("Too good for limited").
Playability is depending on your deck and your opponent's deck, imo.
This is what makes magic interesting for me, and the principle applies both to limited and constructed play. The last sets I really enjoyed drafting are 3x INN and MMA. Constructed sadly has become too focused on creature bashing for me lately.