White
Duelist’s Heritage
I want to like this card, because
it does a couple of things I like to do, namely, play politics and
double-strike things. But I have my doubts about it panning out as its designs
suggests. It’s probably decent, but I can see this being one of those cards I
put in a lot of initial decklists, but is always one of the first things to get
cut. That said, it seems like the kind of card a Queen Marchesa deck would
like. I’ll almost certainly be trying it out there, but I don’t see a lot of
compelling uses for it beyond “dirty politics” decks.
Entrapment Maneuver
Seems good against decks that like
to attack with one big threat, a la Thraximundar. But it’s a bit conditional
and expensive for what it does. I’m not a fan. Compare this to Comeuppance from
a couple years ago, and this just really doesn’t stack up well. It generally
wants to go into the same types of decks that Comeuppance and Angel of the Dire
Hour go into, but those decks already have so many better effects. Decks that
don’t want fancy Comeuppance-style “gotcha!” cards just want cheap, reliable
spells like Swords/Path. It’s a tough world out there for White removal spells.
Orzhov Advokist
Wow, this is risky! I feel like it
should have been one +1/+1 counter, but maybe that just wouldn’t be enticing enough
to most players to make them swear off attacking you? I like it, but it’s not
actually very good, in my opinion. You need to have some other defenses ready
for when they decided to stop taking your bribes and beat your face in with the
counters you bribed them with… but if you have those defenses at the ready
anyway, what do you need the bribe for? Still, it’s one of those political
cards that has to be at least tested in a Queen Marchesa or similar deck.
Selfless Squire
Another card that kinda fits into
the same mold as cards like Comeuppance but isn’t quite as good. That said,
this is at least a good deal better than Entrapment Maneuver, I think. It’s
basically just a Holy Day with a potentially-large body attached. But it’s
interesting because it also has synergy with Comeuppance and other Fog effects
– it continues to feed off your other damage prevention effects too! The second
ability is not just a one-shot effect, so don’t overlook that. It’s like if
Draining Whelk had a separate ability that gave it more counters every time you
countered something.
Sublime Exhalation
Boring sweeper is boring, unless
you play large games involving 5 or more players. Then it gets a little more
enticing. But for the standard 4-way games most of us enjoy, it’s basically
worse than Day of Judgement.
Blue
Coastal Breach
Better than Sublime Exhalation but
not by much. Still outclassed by a variety of existing spells in blue. But,
like the other Undaunted cards, it certainly scales really well in larger games
with 5 or
more players. In the default
4-player setting, this is not as almost-strictly-worse than anything the way
Sublime Exhalation is, but the fact that it’s a Sorcery just makes it really
hard to envision playing it.
Deepglow Skate
Well, dang. GG.
Faerie Artisans
This is a really fun, wacky effect
that can actually be quite good in the right settings. Just add a Panharmonicon
or Doubling Season and you’re now getting all your opponents’ ETBF triggers x2.
Other times, though, it might just make your opponents chuckle a bit as you get
a bunch of useless, fleeting tokens that don’t do much. Combines well with Grave
Pact and a sac outlet. Probably not going to be a staple of the format, but
will be a fun, cool card to play around with at the more casual/fun oriented
tables.
Grip of Phyresis
Ha! How adorable! Little germ guy
is carrying a Sword of Wolves and Mill. This is a pretty narrow utility spell,
though, making it feel like a sideboard card… which is odd for a format without
sideboards. This is a card I really want them to print in foil someday, though,
because it’d be great for my Big Highlander’s wishboard. That said, it’s getting
a bit rare to find EDH decks with no equipment these days. I’m just not sure you
want to jam this hoping to get lucky and see a Jitte or Sword of Value and
Power on the other side of the table.
Manifold Insights
Well, hello there, 3-mana draw
three! This is good, right? I mean, your opponents will give you the worst
cards they can, but they can’t give you lands, so the worst 3 non-land spells
out of the top 10 is still likely going to be much better than your average “Draw
3”, I would think. That said, the “feel bads” of having to put all the most
saucy stuff on bottom is going to be a factor for some players. Even if it’s
technically better than just, say, casting Divination, it’s the kind of card
that will get judged by many players based on emotional response, at least in
part. That’s a trap even I fall into at
times, but very few emotional responses are strong enough to trump by unbridled
love of good card draw!
No comments:
Post a Comment