Venser, the Sojourner is my favorite card, because it speaks to me from multiple angles.
First and foremost, I love blink effects. Something as small as a blink can change the way a lot of things operate, by repeating enter-the-battlefield triggers, rescuing your mind-controlled or perpetually-tapped creature or other permanent, or even just giving something pseudo-vigilance. Or, perhaps in a cube, you can do something nasty like blink a wincon and proceed with a wrath - or even nastier, an Upheaval - and continue onward uncontested. It's a lot of versatility, making Venser's first ability elegant, even though it's incredibly simple.
Venser's second ability is perhaps a bit confusing to a control deck trying to abuse his +2 with the likes of Wall of Omens or Mulldrifter; why would you ever use this ability? I always believed this is because Venser was designed for the BantPod deck when it was standard legal, a midrange monstrosity that abused etb triggers and eventually amassing a huge board. With Venser, you can build up advantages until you can simply overwhelm your opponent; a -1 with "Creatures are unblockable this turn" could just as well read "win the game" in the right deck. I enjoy cube, and find Venser doesn't need to use this ability to be good, but having the option allows him to fit in more decks than many other planeswalkers who don't have as straightforward abilities as "Draw a bunch of Cards". For this reason I think he trumps most other guys outside the Lorwyn 5. Both the +2 and -1 can work together, but they don't need to.
Venser's ultimate is incredibly powerful - a little wonky, to be sure, but powerful. Spells giving you free, colorless exiles is exceptionally good, and cantrips like Preordain suddenly become incredibly valuable. If you have a Batterskull on the table, you're in amazing shape. And this isn't an ultimate that takes forever to get to, either.
Venser is far from the best card, or even best planeswalker in MTG. But, all three of his abilities are potentially powerful, which lead to enjoyable experiences every time I play it. Because Venser's abilities require a little bit of planning, I find that deck construction with him becomes quite interesting; some already good cards gain additional value, some strategies suddenly have an entirely new angle when he hits the field. Being able to think ahead and see real benefits of that planning make playing the card a very rewarding experience.
Yes hello how would you like to get hit with Strip Mine and/or Shriekmaw every turn
Oh did you disenchant my animate dead ok I hope you have two more of those
and yes deranged hermit lmao
The tokens seem potent enough on a value engine like this. While I remember back in the day being hyped about Venser, the Sojourner's ability to blink stuff, not having a target on the board already made it such a dead card way too often. Just being able to fall back to token production ensures you're never going to be embarrassed by this card.
The removal ability is interesting, and I think rounds out her utility nicely.
While I think it's weaker in terms of raw power than Sun's Champion, it seems like it can play with more pieces in your average cube and I think could make for a fun inclusion.
Teething Wurmlet is a card I completely overlooked but spied in your list before I saw this post go up - test drafting convinced me you're spot-on. I think it'll be a really cool addition in powered lists. Mine is unpowered, so I'm not too sure it'll work out, but I'm curious enough to see where its limits lie. Likewise, I had no idea Zephyr Sentinel existed - thanks for bringing it up! I've been waiting for this specific kind of bounce for a while.
Finally, I had reservations regarding Transmogrant's Crown, but you've made me give it a second thought. I think I fell into the trap of focusing too much on the 2 colorless equip cost - if I really just look at is a bonesplitter for 1 more mana and gaining card draw, yeah, that's a pretty desirable card.
Thanks for the (p)review!
I am however baffled by the comparisons to a sorcery. And if it were 3 mana, yeah I think getting 3 cards on an instant would actually be pretty good, even if they were the worst 3 cards in my deck. Something like Thirst for Knowledge is probably better for combos but I would not underestimate raw card advantage, particularly when you can still hold up for removal spells.
Enchantment
1 B
U
Whenever one or more artifact and/or creature cards leave your graveyard during your turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
Is it just me or is this a good Persist enabler? I've found that a lot of persist pieces can be vulnerable (almost all of them are creatures) - combine this with the high number of components necessary to pull off the combo (persist + counters + sac outlet), and the archetype can struggle. But enchantments are a little harder to snipe, and this comes down at 2 mana in a relevant color.
Anyone else intrigued by this as a possible addition?