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AVR Set Review: Blue

Blue:

[card]Alchemist’s Apprentice[/card]:

As chump blockers go this is pretty good, but I don’t think that should be your selling point, at least for just drawing a card. I like how this fills a spot in my curve when drafting, but that’s pretty much it.

[card]Amass the Components[/card]:

Card drawing isn’t what it used to be. [card]Concentrate[/card] looks upon this with disgust. [card]Fact or Fiction[/card] should have been banned, and I suppose if this is what they’re going to print, it has been.

[card]Arcane Melee[/card]:

I would have expected this to get more respect. Yes it costs five mana, but you should be able to win the game if you untap. I suppose the problems are this:

  1. You just spent five mana with potentially no immediate return on investment.
  2. It might simply have been countered or removed.
  3. What deck needs this?

I suppose this still might be a piece of a deck some time in the future, but apparently it is too weak/narrow to be relevant.

Addendum: I’m an idiot; your opponent gets the benefit too! Now I know why this card is heading to the bulk rare bin.

[card]Captain of the Mists[/card]:

I’ll be drafting these pretty highly, but don’t expect to see him in constructed.

[card]Crippling Chill[/card]:

It shuts down a dude for two turns while drawing you a card. In limited that is a pretty good trick.

[card]Deadeye Navigator[/card]:

Well, this clearly isn’t a giant. While I love soulbond, unless there is some trick with this, which I am not currently seeing, I fail to understand why I’d want to play with this. That’s fine though, it’s a pretty cool card. It dodges targeted removal, and allows your men to blink. I guess the best trick is too use this with [card]Fiend Hunter[/card] and use the stack to blink [card]Fiend Hunter[/card] multiple times in response to the removal trigger going on the stack. A cute trick, but almost certainly too slow.

[card]Devastation Tide[/card]:

I cannot help but compare this to [card]Terminus[/card]. Both clear the board, but this hits artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers. Is that what control wants to do? Given the loss in card advantage I don’t think so, and don’t expect this to see much play. It is a cool card and I would like someone to give in a home in constructed, but that someone likely won’t be me.

[card]Dreadwaters[/card]:

This is actually a pretty efficient mill effect in the late game, but I suspect Blue prefers its current options.

Addendum: Mill cards that are only efficient late are awful. I apologize for any confusion.

[card]Elgaud Shieldmate[/card]:

Thanks for the effort. Hexproof is nice to have, but you probably want it from the get go. Blue already has efficient hexproof creatures, so this won’t be needed. Fact is, four mana for a 2/3 is a bit less than what even Blue is willing to accept.

[card]Favorable Winds[/card]:

An anthem for flyers? Interesting. We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you? Not nearly as strong as [card]Intangible Virtue[/card], but useful nonetheless.

[card]Fettergeist[/card]:

[card]Serendib Efreet[/card] was great at a time creatures were fairly weak. Times have changed. If you are trying to swarm an opponent, the upkeep is prohibitive. If you are trying to use [card]Fettergeist[/card] alone, you’re too slow. I like the idea and execution, but fear its time has passed. I am willing to experiment with him because ¾ flying for three is still undercosted and potentially useful, and the art is outstanding.

[card]Fleeting Distraction[/card]:

This would be much better if it were: Draw a card. You may give target creature -1/-0 until end of turn. As is you can’t count on using it in a cantrip style deck.

[card]Galvanic Alchemist[/card]:

Turtles are turtles even if they aren’t listed as such. I’ll be using this guy in draft to watch my back.

[card]Geist Snatch[/card]:

White spirit tokens, meet Blue spirit tokens. Given that countermagic just got its butt kicked, and we already had [card]Dissipate[/card] available as a hard counter with benefits for three mana, this seems to be priced for use in limited only.

[card]Ghostform[/card]:

Maybe useful as a Blue finisher in limited. At best the 23rd card in a draft deck.

[card]Ghostly Flicker[/card]:

We’re getting plenty of ways to abuse ETB creatures, but do we need all these blink effects? We already had Venser to go infinite, so I am skeptical.

[card]Ghostly Touch[/card]:

Thanks for your presentation. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

[card]Gryff Vanguard[/card]:

You don’t want to have too many five drops in a deck, but flying and draw a card are good things, and I’ll be splashing these into many of my decks. Very useful draft pick.

[card]Havengul Skaab[/card]:

Is this guy aware Blue has another 4/5 zombie for only four mana? This seems awful.

[card]Infinite Reflection[/card]:

If I am paying six mana for an aura I expect to win immediately if it resolves. So, how am I winning? No, seriously, the question wasn’t rhetorical. Apparently this isn’t [card]Splinter Twin[/card] and I should just move on.

[card]Into the Void[/card]:

Bounce generally has to be faster than this to be useful in constructed. Fine in limited to occasionally grab some tempo and kill an aura.

[card]Latch Seeker[/card]:

Very useful and annoying in limited, albeit quite fragile. No relevance in constructed.

[card]Lone Revenant[/card]:

Five mana for a 4/4 hexproof dude is fine, but nothing special. He has no evasion apart from the fact he is hexproof. The concept is fine, but not powerful for constructed.

[card]Lunar Mystic[/card]:

This is the first Blue card from Avacyn Restored that makes me go “Hmm.” It is a four mana 2/2, so it won’t actually be useful, but drawing cards is fun and in the right limited deck this could get out of hand pretty fast.

[card]Mass Appeal[/card]:

This is good. It will often draw you three or more cards, for just three mana. UW humans can use this to avoid ever running out of gas. Also, it combos quite well with [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card], even more so than most spells. Finally, I like the pun.

[card]Mist Raven[/card]:

The flying jellyfish have come for us, we’re doomed! Yeah, I’ll be drafting a lot of Blue in AVR. 🙂

[card]Misthollow Griffin[/card]:

When this was spoiled I saw people claim it should have been in every other color:
It should have been Black because coming back from the dead is a Black ability.
It should have been Green because it is a [card]Genesis[/card] style creature.
It should have been Red because this is a Phoenix ability.
It should have been White because moving in and out of exile is a White creature ability.

Personally I would have made it a Misthollow Phoenix, but Blue is the color most interested in removing its own creatures from the game. And, as I said to Aaron Forsyth after he commented on using this and [card]Moorland Haunt[/card] to grind out a game:

“I’m glad you’re finally giving Blue and White some late game inevitability.”

A 3/3 flyer for four mana just isn’t that special so overall this isn’t a huge concern. Maybe a sideboard card for wars of attrition. Moving on…

[card]Nephalia Smuggler[/card]:

I have low expectations for my Blue 1 drops. Stop laughing Mr. Seth Brundle. Yes I know you have a doctorate, but I reserve the honorific doctor for medical professionals. Anyway, we now have an additional blink effect. Whoopie!

[card]Outwit[/card]:

This is brutally efficient. I guess the only problem is that since hand destruction and burn are pretty useless these days, where are we using this? Actually, perhaps we can use this to stop card draw that targets a player. In any event narrow but hard countermagic for one mana is potentially useful and Blue is stronger for having it.

[card]Peel From Reality[/card]:

Reprint. If there are targets we want to return on both sides this is efficient. Otherwise it is pretty clunky. My guess is we’ll be sticking to [card]Vapor Snag[/card], although if we wanted another way to abuse [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] (apart from the 1001 blink effects), this isn’t bad.

[card]Rotcrown Ghoul[/card]:

Another way to mill people out in limited, got it.

[card]Scrapskin Drake[/card]:

You are, without question, the ugliest [card]Cloud Elemental[/card] I have ever seen. Wipe that stupid grin off your face.

[card]Second Guess[/card]:

This is pretty good at doing the job it is designed to do. However, if people know you have this, there are a lot of good ways to neutralize it. On the other hand, feel free to cast an instant during your opponent’s upkeep. Truthfully, I much prefer [card]Outwit[/card] to this. Both are somewhat narrow, but [card]Outwit[/card] never has to counter a creature (good luck with that these days), and it only costs one mana. Overall this is probably too narrow to be effective.

[card]Spectral Prison[/card]:

We needed a new and subtly different [card]Ice Cage[/card]?

[card]Spirit Away[/card]:

Backbreaking in limited. In constructed I prefer the movie.

[card]Stern Mentor[/card]:

In limited this will mill someone to death very fast. In constructed it is a 2/2 creature for four mana, and just too slow.

[card]Stolen Goods[/card]:

Cute ability, but how do I use this? It combos well with effects that put creatures on top of their owners libraries, but if I am just raw dogging this I am more likely to grab a spell or creature that wasn’t worth the investment. For crime to pay stick with [card]Bribery[/card].

[card]Tamiyo, The Moon Sage[/card]:

Maybe Jace TMS really did ruin it for everyone. Since then planeswalkers have been scaled back a bit, and this is in full effect for Tamiyo. Five mana is major investment, so let’s look at the options:

  1. Card draw and defense in a turbo fog style deck. This actually works if you can expect your opponent to either have a team that is tapped down, or if they only have one major threat to deal with.
  2. Card draw if your team is tapped down after attacking. That’s fine and you might draw a significant amount of cards, but if you have that many creatures alive after attacking, why aren’t you already winning?
  3. If you resolve this in a control matchup you can hold down a land four turns and then simply go off with the ultimate. It will be very hard to lose after resolving something as simple as a [card]Thought Scour[/card].

Having said all of that, Tamiyo’s card draw and defense are a bit underwhelming given we paid five mana for her. I guess the most consistent best cast scenario is to try and draw a few cards and have her take a hit instead of you. Maybe I’m missing an application where she is a dominant presence, but for now I am seeing her as a niche role player.

[card]Tandem Lookout[/card]:

Sneaky good. You will often be able to get an immediate return on investment, and unlike an aura, they don’t achieve parity with an answer next turn. Also note that the damage doesn’t have to be combat damage, so there some combos that might get out of hand pretty fast with only a minimal investment. Having said all that, this is only a 2/1 grounder for three mana, so let’s keep this in perspective. A nice useful soulbond creature.

[card]Temporal Mastery[/card]:

A lot of digital ink has already been spent on [card]Temporal Mastery[/card], so I’ll be brief: Seven mana is too much for a [card]Time Walk[/card]. Occasionally you’ll get to play it for two mana, but unless you can set that up consistently with [card]Brainstorm[/card]/[card]Scroll Rack[/card]/[card]Sensei’s Divining Top[/card], it shouldn’t be too pernicious. Speaking of pernicious cards, [card]Brainstorm[/card] and Top are both potential candidates for removal from various formats. [card]Brainstorm[/card] is incredibly powerful and no less than an authority on powerful control cards, Kai Budde, predicted it’s banning. As for Top, it slows down tournaments and is potentially overpowered with Miracle effects.

Addendum: This is nuts with [card]Scroll Rack[/card] and [card]Brainstorm[/card]. Literally, you are playing four [card]Time Walk[/card]s in your deck at that point. We’ll see how long that is allowed.

[card]Vanishment[/card]:

Well, overpowered with SOME miracle effects.

[card]Wingcrafter[/card]:

This is going directly into my pauper cube. Apart from that, it’s a useful card in draft as you get a 1/1 flyer and can give flying to a friend for free. Good design.

Overall I feel Blue’s haul is pretty underwhelming. You gain three interesting methods of card draw ([card]Mass Appeal[/card], [card]Tamiyo, The Moon Sage[/card], and [card]Tandem Lookout[/card]). You gain an anthem for flyers. A fairly clunky [card]Time Walk[/card]. Here are my top five Blue cards from AVR:

5. [card]Outwit[/card]
4. [card]Temporal Mastery[/card]
3. [card]Misthollow Griffin[/card]
2. [card]Tamiyo, The Moon Sage[/card]
1. [card]Mass Appeal[/card]

Some of those placements are entirely speculative. [card]Temporal Mastery[/card] especially has potential if it can be consistently used as a miracle. Outwit might be too narrow, but for now I respect it. I put [card]Mass Appeal[/card] at number one simply because I know I can consistently gain serious value from it. Maybe in time Tamiyo will prove to be the best Blue card from AVR. We’ll see. Onward to Black.

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