M14 EDH Set Review, Part 2: Blue

Well, White wasn't all that promising. Let's hope Blue fares a bit better.

Sliver. Yawn.

Okay to be fair, it is a pretty good one. I'd play it, if I had a Sliver deck. 

Good luck getting this guy to live long enough to cast whatever you Exile. Playing this guy is just begging to get 2-for-1-ed. It'll still totally get played, though. "I can protect it! With countermagic!" Yeah, and then when you stick Time Warp on this guy, everyone groans and packs up their shit.

 Mostly I'd rather have Diluvian Primordial or Chancellor of the Spires. In fact, there is a high enough chance you could whiff entirely with this guy, making him a really boring 4/4 for 6... Yeah, I'll pass thanks.

Neat, I guess. Isperia the Inscrutable decks get a little lovin'? I can dig it.

AWFUL. Completely and utterly awful. 

Well, it's no Consecrated Sphinx, but at least players who really need a Sphinx that draws cards, but are too hipster to play Constipated Sphinx have a less mainstream (read: terrible) option!

Great sideboard option for Merfolk decks, but pretty terrible in EDH. Yeah, EVERYONE plays green, so it's likely to always have a target... but most green decks just won't care that you tap down one guy. Anyway, if you're a Blue mage lookin' to hate on Green or Red mages... well, there are plenty of better options.

So Ponder costs fucking THREE mana now! I can't tell what WotC is trying harder to nerf - card draw spells, spells in general, or the entire color Blue. Oh, wait - Blue basically IS nothing but card drawing spells, so the answer is "All of the above".

Much like the horribly nerfed Fiend Hunter variant, this Whale can't be exploited to permanently exile a creature. Well, I was already planning on never playing this ever, even before I realized that fact.  That said, the existence of Deadeye Navigator kind of makes me glad this trick doesn't work. Of course, Duplicant still exists, so... oh well.

(Oh, this does get mad props for AWESOME flavor.)

Ugh, I really hate 7-Mana enchantments unless they REALLY kick some ass, and this is definitely no Debtor's Knell. But ignoring the price tag for a second, a Blue mage could very easily find the effect something worth desiring... Perhaps Academy Rector can provide an adequate discount?
















Well, crap. So, the best we got was a really bad Consecrated Sphinx knock-off, and an Enchantment with a really cool, powerful effect that may or may not be worth the printed CMC.  Lame. Next?