Brimaz looks excellent. Gives white weenie a fighting chance in the format.
Fated Infatuation is mediocre at best. Cackling Counterpart did nothing in standard.
Cackling a Counterpart could only target creatures you control, which made it infinitely worse. This is a better, but more difficult to cast Clone.
It's more comparable to Phyrexian Metamorph, without the artifac copying ability.
I'm not suggesting the card is an all-star, but it's certainly good rate for a desirable effect, in addition to scrying.
This isn't really that good. It's an effective late game counterspell, best (realistic) case it's Rune Snag+1 (x=4) in the grave on turn 4. I don't know how or when people got the idea that Mana Leak was "too good", it had been around for years and was always fine. Enter Delver, Snapcaster Mage, and Geist and it's a problem all of the sudden, or was the addition of absurdly efficient and powerful blue creatures backed by offensive counter magic (typically counter-magic is used defensively) the issue? I'm thinking the latter.
It's a better Unified Will, which isn't saying a whole lot.
I really wish people would learn how to evaluate cards.
Listing the 2 choices and saying "either is good, so this card is good" (which is basically what most are saying) is a horrible way to look at it, since that isn't how the card works. You are never going to get a haste creature when you want one, and vica versa.
Your opponent will ALWAYS choose which is better for them, the cards are supposed to look efficient.
Having said that, the fact that these are creatures and not 1-shot deal spells, does make them better overall, I still don't think this card is very good. The fact that both modes are similar is relevant however.
Have you not seen that Springleaf drum has been spoiled? Tap it end of turn get the benefit on your next upkeep.
Playing a bunch of low impact cards to Maybe draw a card isn't worth it the majority of the time. Clearly drum is there to promote the mechanic, but Dark Confidant this is not. Not even close.
That said, giving the choice to an opponent is not always bad. Gifts Ungiven is a great card, and gives the final choice to the opponent. The reason it is great is because the choices you will be giving the opponent are always, but always, a no-win scenario for them.
Gifts Ungiven isn't the punisher mechanic, you control the important part. What cards you will end up with. The Punisher mechanic implies your opponent has final say on what happens and always gets to choose what is best for them, not that simply interact with the card. Hana Kami, Death Denied, Soulless Revival, Ethereal Haze...no matter what, your opponent was locked out of the game assuming they're means of winning was damage. Academy Ruins, Mindslaver, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, no matter what, they're locked out of the game the following turn. It's your influence that decides what happens.
probably playable, but pretty meh. Does seem like a worse Jace, who isn't exactly cracking skulls himself, but it's ability is pretty unique, so that's something.
I myself run RDW. I currently have 2 Mutavaults in my deck and was wondering if I should add 2 more. There have been cases where an extra Mutavault or 2 would have really helped. I am just wondering if adding 2 more Mutavaults is worth the tradeoff of possibly not dropping a turn 2 Burning-Tree Emissary into Firefist Striker, or not dropping a turn 3 Boros Reckoner. Here is my decklist:
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
14 other spells
2 Mutavault
20 Mountains
22 lands
Reckoner and Emissary really limit how many you can play. Chandra's Phoenix may be worth looking into, it will allow you to play more Mutavaults and is an upgrade for control match-ups (in addition to the extra mutavaults also being very good against them).
I'm not a huge RDW guy, so take what I say with a grain of salt, I just know Chandra's Phoenix is always a pain (you'd likely have to shave some number of Strikers for them), I may be biased since I'm almost always playing either UW or Mono U Devotion tho.
If you don't like the 1 drops (which also interfere with Mutavault), going big with Frostburn Weird, Stormbreath Dragons, and Purphoros is something I'm seeing a lot of now.
Cackling a Counterpart could only target creatures you control, which made it infinitely worse. This is a better, but more difficult to cast Clone.
It's more comparable to Phyrexian Metamorph, without the artifac copying ability.
I'm not suggesting the card is an all-star, but it's certainly good rate for a desirable effect, in addition to scrying.
It's a better Unified Will, which isn't saying a whole lot.
The Infest is so obviously in your face good, I don't know what you mean.
The untap bear is also good that was spoiled the other day.
Aside from those I agree, but those 2 are clearly good cards.
the big skeleton guy has some amazing art, and screams "abuse me" in EDH. AOE Recurring Nightmare...gross
Listing the 2 choices and saying "either is good, so this card is good" (which is basically what most are saying) is a horrible way to look at it, since that isn't how the card works. You are never going to get a haste creature when you want one, and vica versa.
Your opponent will ALWAYS choose which is better for them, the cards are supposed to look efficient.
Having said that, the fact that these are creatures and not 1-shot deal spells, does make them better overall, I still don't think this card is very good. The fact that both modes are similar is relevant however.
Not sure if trolling or serious
This isn't good...
Playing a bunch of low impact cards to Maybe draw a card isn't worth it the majority of the time. Clearly drum is there to promote the mechanic, but Dark Confidant this is not. Not even close.
Gifts Ungiven isn't the punisher mechanic, you control the important part. What cards you will end up with. The Punisher mechanic implies your opponent has final say on what happens and always gets to choose what is best for them, not that simply interact with the card. Hana Kami, Death Denied, Soulless Revival, Ethereal Haze...no matter what, your opponent was locked out of the game assuming they're means of winning was damage. Academy Ruins, Mindslaver, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, no matter what, they're locked out of the game the following turn. It's your influence that decides what happens.
The Punisher mechanic is Blazing Salvo, Breaking Point, Dash Hopes, etc.
You ultimately control what choices you AND your opponent's have with Gifts and FoF.
Vendilion Clique is too inherently powerful for standard in my opinion, in addition to being legendary, I don't see it being re-released for standard.
As for Underworld Connections, you have Abrupt Decay, which also deals with Pack Rat, and Nightveil Specter.
Both answer multiple threats for a cheap cost.
Also, Thoughtseize and Rakdos's Return as universal answers
The -1 is pretty good tho, even at 4 mana.
Reckoner and Emissary really limit how many you can play. Chandra's Phoenix may be worth looking into, it will allow you to play more Mutavaults and is an upgrade for control match-ups (in addition to the extra mutavaults also being very good against them).
I'm not a huge RDW guy, so take what I say with a grain of salt, I just know Chandra's Phoenix is always a pain (you'd likely have to shave some number of Strikers for them), I may be biased since I'm almost always playing either UW or Mono U Devotion tho.
If you don't like the 1 drops (which also interfere with Mutavault), going big with Frostburn Weird, Stormbreath Dragons, and Purphoros is something I'm seeing a lot of now.
He didn't mention Modern, Meloku was by far the best creature in standard when it was legal.
Kokusho, the Evening Star and Yosei, the Morning Star weren't far behind tho. Kodama of the North Tree and Kumano, master Yamabushi were up there too.