Notably for the BR deck, if you have no Powerstones when this ETB, you can sacrifice it with its ETB ability on the stack and end up with a Powerstone, a la Oblivion Ring.
Such a great limited card. Makes the other colour pairs seem like trash. Stupid useless modified and 'have to have both art and enchants in play' are just asking for you to draft bad cards. Green blue, nope draft solid creatures that can also become spells in a pinch. GU is like a running meme at this point.
Not too sure about the WB 'have both an enchantment and artifact' theme so far. There are a lot of artifact and enchantment creatures in the set.
Historically, these effects have never been good. I'm currently evaluating it for Ninjas. On the one hand, Ninjas never want to get blocked, which implies that you'll not trigger this through the easiest method, combat damage. There are precious few other sources of damage known so far, with Twinshot Sniper being the only one that springs to mind.
OTOH, Ninjas attacking into blockers (when you outnumber them in particular) can be bluffing this card, or maybe a nasty Ninja. So maybe this will be good.
I think she is high value, but also I think she's probably the character most likely to avoid even coming near phyrexians.
I think the entire point of PW compleation going forward is that PWs can no longer keep away from Phyrexia. If Phyrexians want Nissa, they're going to go after her. She can't really avoid them, particularly in her case, because she won't abandon Zendikar.
I think a bunch of the gatewatch folks are at a point in their character arcs that they could totally be next. I'd bet a dollar Chandra goes first, then Jace.
I think that it's not a question (at this point) of who is likely, but who the Phyrexians would want most. And of those, the top of the list--if they know about her, and Tezzeret at least does--is Nissa. Her ability to connect to the souls of planes would be absolutely frightening if she were compleated. OTOH, she may be the key to undoing the effects of the oil on any plane not already corrupted. So she's very likely high-value on both sides.
I would agree that Chandra is the most likely to rush in too fast and get compleated in a scenario where there's an attack on either side.
If Phyrexians are susceptible to Jace's illusions--and we have no evidence otherwise--I imagine he'd have one of the easiest times evading capture. Main concern on Jace is that Tezzeret likely holds a grudge.
I'm not terribly pissed it was Tamiyo, I just hope they don't resolve it in a boring way.
AKA: OH Gideon comes back for 5 minutes to save her! Praise Jesus!
Or: Turns out Lilliana's powers now work on phyrexians! For reasons!
Or: And then Kaya offed her offscreen because we had no idea where our writing was going!
I'm mostly irritated by the Compleation mechanic not applying to all of her colored mana costs. Yes, it would potentially put her at -1 loyalty. I'm sure there's some shenanigans in game already to handle that. Paying 2 life for 2 less counters and her being 1 mana cheaper really isn't much of a discount.
I do agree there would have been better characters to do this to though, or at least a little build up with a "Previously Unknown Walker" who is compleated.
The only problem with your suggestion of a previously unknown waller being Compleated would be that noone would care beyond the "oh, that happened."
I don't know if this falls under 'oh that happened' for you, but to have any PW be compleated creates existential dread, 'oh no, our PWs can be screwed'. This is still a gut punch and very much 'ups the ante' in terms of threat. Of course, seeing a popular and beloved PW fall doubles down on this, so I'm not saying it's not as effective. I'm just pointing out that the keyword is frightening in its own right.
Tezzeret... well, not even sure about Tezzeret at this point. He largely appears to be his own person but closely tied with the Phyrexians but only for his own gains. To Compleat him would be irrelevant because we already see him as a big bad. On his own versus Jace, as Bolas's Minion through the events of War of the Spark and now as a Phyrexian co-conspirator. It wouldn't make sense to Compleat him.
I really don't understand Tezzeret's logic. Unless he wants to be compleated, why would he help the Phyrexians with this process? He's at best playing a very dangerous game. He might be arrogant enough to believe that he can avoid compleation (assuming of course he wants to avoid it). If so, he shows a depressing lack of scope. People who believe that they can outsmart/outlast the Phyrexians tend to... be mistaken.
Aw this makes me sad. Tamiyo was the character from Kamigawa that I cared about the most, and she has a bunch of children who rely on her.
I wonder how Ajani's going to react when he finds out about her fate.
The one that's going to get hit hard is Elspeth. This is her worst nightmare playing out all over again.
Also, for those who think Elspeth getting compleated would be good, it might have some benefits, but the major drawback that she's already had this entire arc with Heliod. I think it's going to be more effective to see her reaction to others getting compleated.
I'm not happy with Tamiyo's compleation (the card of it, though, is very powerful), but I can honestly say that I'm now much more invested in the story, at least to the extent of, 'Will Tamiyo be saved?' So, I guess mission accomplished, WotC.
Well, I was right that Tamiyo would get a PW card... but at this point I'm not sure that I want to be right...
I think at this point Karn should be less worried about compleation and more worried that Tamiyo is known to carry a nuke in at least one of her scrolls. Of course, that could backfire on the Phyrexians, as I believe it was intimated to be the Sylex blast that ended the Brothers' War. If someone else can figure out how to use it, or if compleation can be undone....
So basically the MaRo rumor about copying applies to Jin-Gitaxias? This does make sense, and it does (sort of) have the 'help me / hurt you' aspect that the Praetors have historically had.
Also, the second clause makes a lot of sense as protection if Gitaxias is a 5/3.
(Yeah, I'm very Mel, how could you tell?)
I imagine a set with Flying, Horsemanship, and Shadow... all the creatures are unblockable!
Not too sure about the WB 'have both an enchantment and artifact' theme so far. There are a lot of artifact and enchantment creatures in the set.
(I should also point out that getting an exact English translation is damn near impossible, and it's probably as good as it can be.)
OTOH, Ninjas attacking into blockers (when you outnumber them in particular) can be bluffing this card, or maybe a nasty Ninja. So maybe this will be good.
I think the entire point of PW compleation going forward is that PWs can no longer keep away from Phyrexia. If Phyrexians want Nissa, they're going to go after her. She can't really avoid them, particularly in her case, because she won't abandon Zendikar.
I think that it's not a question (at this point) of who is likely, but who the Phyrexians would want most. And of those, the top of the list--if they know about her, and Tezzeret at least does--is Nissa. Her ability to connect to the souls of planes would be absolutely frightening if she were compleated. OTOH, she may be the key to undoing the effects of the oil on any plane not already corrupted. So she's very likely high-value on both sides.
I would agree that Chandra is the most likely to rush in too fast and get compleated in a scenario where there's an attack on either side.
If Phyrexians are susceptible to Jace's illusions--and we have no evidence otherwise--I imagine he'd have one of the easiest times evading capture. Main concern on Jace is that Tezzeret likely holds a grudge.
I don't know if this falls under 'oh that happened' for you, but to have any PW be compleated creates existential dread, 'oh no, our PWs can be screwed'. This is still a gut punch and very much 'ups the ante' in terms of threat. Of course, seeing a popular and beloved PW fall doubles down on this, so I'm not saying it's not as effective. I'm just pointing out that the keyword is frightening in its own right.
I really don't understand Tezzeret's logic. Unless he wants to be compleated, why would he help the Phyrexians with this process? He's at best playing a very dangerous game. He might be arrogant enough to believe that he can avoid compleation (assuming of course he wants to avoid it). If so, he shows a depressing lack of scope. People who believe that they can outsmart/outlast the Phyrexians tend to... be mistaken.
The one that's going to get hit hard is Elspeth. This is her worst nightmare playing out all over again.
Also, for those who think Elspeth getting compleated would be good, it might have some benefits, but the major drawback that she's already had this entire arc with Heliod. I think it's going to be more effective to see her reaction to others getting compleated.
I'm not happy with Tamiyo's compleation (the card of it, though, is very powerful), but I can honestly say that I'm now much more invested in the story, at least to the extent of, 'Will Tamiyo be saved?' So, I guess mission accomplished, WotC.
I think at this point Karn should be less worried about compleation and more worried that Tamiyo is known to carry a nuke in at least one of her scrolls. Of course, that could backfire on the Phyrexians, as I believe it was intimated to be the Sylex blast that ended the Brothers' War. If someone else can figure out how to use it, or if compleation can be undone....
Also, the second clause makes a lot of sense as protection if Gitaxias is a 5/3.