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JOU Spoiler: Weekend Wrapup and 4/15 Spoilers

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This is as close to an Inspired effect I care about. Pain Seer got a lot more hype and went nowhere (so far (?)) so I don't expect this to presell for more than a buck or two. This might be worth doing something "cute" with like using it with Springleaf Drum but the effect being symmetrical and hard to trigger hurts it. You don't see people playing Juxtaposition in EDH or casual, either, so I have low hopes as much as I admire the design.

You don't want to play a card that says "each opponent draws a card" unless your deck has 100 cards in it and one of them is named "Nekusar". Post rotation people will play with Herald of Torment and they will miss Desecration Demon. What they will not do is play with a card that grants asymmetrical card advantage. Not in a world where no one ever played with Duskmantle Seer.

I think this card is amazing and then I remember that no one played Warren Instigator. Is this card better because it's not so narrow that it only gets goblins or is it worse because you can whiff? Is its 3 toughness the difference-maker or is its 3 mana cost going to make it even less playable? It's not exactly a clone of Warren Instigator, though, and will be used in a different manner and it's getting a ton of hype. I see it preselling for $10-$12 and that seems incorrect to me. The card most obviously buoyed by this card's reprint is Madcap Skills and there is no financial opportunity there. Feel free to tell me why I am wrong to not be excited by this mediocre-seeming and clunky card.

We liked Brimaz, King of Oreskos so much we decided to let you make your whole side a Brimaz! This seems like a card with potential, but its effect is not going to get you back into a game where you're behind. You get a marginal advantage when there is board parity and if you're ahead, it won't put you that much farther ahead. A token deck might want this, and I like the idea of playing this with Parallel Lives in 100 card decks, but there is no assurance it even makes the cut there. Not a huge fan of "win more" cards, and this feels that way.

Rageblood Shaman grants fewer bonuses but does it to better creatures. This is just a clunky lord that is powerful but only as powerful as the deck it can go in. I am inclined to say it could go up because it's a lord, but a lord without a tribe isn't necessarily good. Soraya, the Falconer would like a word.

Green might use an effect like this. Big, dumb monsters decks lack removal sometimes, and this can help with that. Still, I imagine its price will go down first even if it goes up later, leaving you time to scoop them if you believe in it. Green Red monsters suffers from quite a few things right now, and lack of a "beatface helix" is not chief among them.

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Jason Alt

Jason Alt is a value trader and writer. He is Quiet Speculation's self-appointed web content archivist and co-captain of the interdepartmental dodgeball team. He enjoys craft microbrews and doing things ironically. You may have seen him at magic events; he wears black t-shirts and has a beard and a backpack so he's pretty easy to spot. You can hear him as co-host on the Brainstorm Brewery podcast or catch his articles on Gatheringmagic.com. He is also the Community Manager at BrainstormBrewery.com and writes the odd article there, too. Follow him on Twitter @JasonEAlt unless you don't like having your mind blown.

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