I totally agree. I think that the better of those (likely concentrated among rares and mythics) will see play.
I think that the reason why people underestimate them is that they treat them as bad spells, with an upside of being able to act like a land. But the right perspective is to treat them as land with a downside (tapped / 3 life) an a significant upside of being a spell later on. I think the closest comparison are cycling lands (e.g., Barren Moor).
Essentially, what is going to happen most of the time is that you take a deck with 24 lands and 36 non-lands, and you replace some of the lands with those DFC lands. People treat it like you are going to take out some of the (better) spells and replace them with those DFCs.
I can imagine also some other nice interactions.
- Azusa, Lost but Seeking deck with ~30 lands where many are DFC. The DFCs would help to both have lands to play with her, and to have payoffs for the mana.
- Bounce effects and other things that interact with lands. Living Twister would have been fun now.
Hmm, ok. It's too bad the human/non-human weren't flipped, as I imagine it would be much better to cheat out a large dragon or beast for attacking with a little token. Still, getting just one successful attack with this ability is quite strong, and it's on a 4/4 for 2RW which is fine on its own.
Given that Agent of Treachery is among the best reanimation targets in Standard, it might not be that bad :).
I think that the reason why people underestimate them is that they treat them as bad spells, with an upside of being able to act like a land. But the right perspective is to treat them as land with a downside (tapped / 3 life) an a significant upside of being a spell later on. I think the closest comparison are cycling lands (e.g., Barren Moor).
Essentially, what is going to happen most of the time is that you take a deck with 24 lands and 36 non-lands, and you replace some of the lands with those DFC lands. People treat it like you are going to take out some of the (better) spells and replace them with those DFCs.
I can imagine also some other nice interactions.
- Azusa, Lost but Seeking deck with ~30 lands where many are DFC. The DFCs would help to both have lands to play with her, and to have payoffs for the mana.
- Bounce effects and other things that interact with lands. Living Twister would have been fun now.
Given that Agent of Treachery is among the best reanimation targets in Standard, it might not be that bad :).