Quote from Ciliatus89 »The card itself looks good - but what I hate about this set is how random they throw known characters into it.
Why the F should the Queen of an entire plane come into the middle of nowhere and play cards? Why should she do that? It totally doesn't make any sense. Same for a lot of other characters in this set.
I know, that this plane wasn't poulated before the Omenpaths, so there can't be a local legendary creature. But the whole mass of random characters is what i dislike so far.
Wait; the plane wasn’t populated? So everyone who comes here just spontaneously decided to start dressing like a cowboy?
This whole concept is dumb as heck. Would honestly make so much more sense if they tell us it was all just Jace’s dream instead.
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MTG story has suffered for a long time. The refusal to use a block system restricts the ability to tell a contained story with a beginning, middle, and end. We're introduced to worlds with supposedly world-changing events, but because no status quo is established first, the change from the status quo is lost on the audience. We get a multiverse-wide invasion, but Elesh Norn's decapitation is spoiled before some of the worlds are even invaded. And then characters "somehow survived" things they should not have, and they all get thrown into genre-ripoff-world after genre-ripoff-set with no care for logic, consistency, or good storytelling. All the while, the MTG brand is diluted by injecting other IPs for nonsensical cash-grabs.
Mechanically, the card is fine though uninteresting to a segment of players. But character-wise... LAME!
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As they say, everything is just a variant of kicker or horsemanship.
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IN:
-Escape Tunnel - Early game fixing with mid-late game flexibility makes for a strictly better Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse. Should be a staple.
POSSIBLY CONSIDERING:
-Snarling Gorehound - Menace on a 1/1 isn't particularly useful, but repeatable surveil can be. I have 169 creatures that trigger this, along with 23 cards that produce tokens that trigger it. there's no "once per turn" clause, so this seems decent at setting up my next draw and fantastic for a reanimator deck.
-Ordruun Mentor - I run Sunhome Stalwart, though it's never particularly impressed me. Ordrunn's extra power makes Mentor quite a bit better, and being able to loan out first strike (even when Ordrunn Mentor isn't attacking) is pretty nice. Only problem is it's a guild slot.
-Push//Pull - I haven't really ventured past 2 color in Peasant, but this card intrigues me. Serviceable removal or a potential game-ending spell that otherwise triggers ETBs and death triggers?
PROBABLY NOT FOR NOW:
-Afterlife Insurance - Interesting, but until we get a few more dependable board wipes, I'll probably hold off.
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Mechanically: Because it offers a unique build-direction separate from five color goodstuff.
Gameplay: Because "number of different color pairs among permanents you control that are exactly two colors" is easy to define while setting a range of X between 0-10. Imagine the confusion and arguments if it said "number of different color pairs among permanents you control" - does this mean a white permanent and a red one count for Boros? Does a WBR card just count for just one pair or all three that can be formed with those colors? (WB/BR/WR) Specificity is our friend.
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At its floor, the Inspector is a two mana 1/3 reach - nothing to write home about.
Collect evidence 6 is a fairly high bar. Short of the Ent or Troll, you'll likely have to wait several turns to get... a slightly better Kujar Seedsculptor? I mean Reach, +0/+1, and 2 life aren't nothing, but I don't think even the ceiling is really worth it.
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-Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed - I have to admit, I had no idea this was even considered an uncommon (apparently it has an online-only downshift). Honestly, though, I'm not really surprised it gets little attention. Copies run $90-270, they will have the rare symbol, and you get a vulnerable 2-toughness creature (unblockable as it may be) that can't attack AND use its ability. It looks like a card I would love to try out for fun, but not one I'd be willing to shell out for or that I think would last long-term in my cube.
-Witherbloom Apprentice - It's a wonderful card, but with it taking a guild slot and not even sharing a color with most spellslinger archetypes, I definitely see it as the odd man out. Most spellslinging is UR with maybe a splash of W, so BG feels like it has very limited support. The Chain of Smog combo is powerful, but now I'm playing two cards that don't really fit my cube or supported archetypes, and the odds of playing them together are quite slim.
Agreed.I still run Rec Sage and even just recently upgraded it to the full-art version, but I'll also admit it does end up in the sideboard a decent amount of the time. For me, Cankerbloom is an undercosted body that can be sacrificed as removal, while Reclamation Sage is primarily removal with a body attached that can be blinked, sacced to another effect, or used as a chump blocker. Some of its popularity/staying power is probably just that the card is iconic and easy to categorize. But it's also really good at what it does, and I need several answers for the threats in my cube (Sol Ring, Skullclamp, Loxodon Warhammer, Curse of Predation, Curse of Disturbance, etc.). As for your point that "you can't play it out and wait for a target," this is true, but it's also a strength. If you have Cankerbloom on the field, you've already revealed your removal, and I know I can play around it - just have to kill it before I drop Warhammer. Sometimes keeping the removal off the table encourages the opponent to overcommit, and then Rec Sage flies in and does its thing.
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