I was by no means advocating it as a spec, just saying that I believe it will be quite good in Standard.

Mantis Rider is underwhelming in a world full of Lightning Strikes and Stoke the Flames

I believe most people agree with you on this one. I am in the minority it seems. Time will tell…even if it is good, it’s only good in the Jeskai deck and that likely limits value potential.

Great add! Stubborn Denial seems strong in decks with Tarmogoyf especially!

It appears you are right. Lots of pushback on Mantis. I may be overlooking something here – time will tell I suppose. Either way, it’s pre-selling at $2 so I don’t think people are expecting this to break the format by any means. Jeskai still has to be a strong deck in order for Mantis to shine because it won’t likely see play in many other decks.

Thanks for the comment!

To the “I don’t get the reliance on creatures and noncreatures at the same time”:
As far as this, Prowess seems to be the exact thing missing from the heroic deck. Casting your Heroic Enablers wIth the Ascendancy or Prowess creatures out seems rediculously strong. A control deck using the smaller guys with Prowess to win combat steps or countering then deterring an attack seems right up this faction’s alley. They seem to want to be an aggro-control style deck, and they will be good at that style.

Jeskai Ascendancy is probably the leader for “Broken stuff in standard”. Convoke is an on-color mechanic for Jeskai, and with the Ascendancy out, Convoke spells are “free”. Aside from the obvious like Stoke the Flames, Obelisk of Urd can be free. Chief Engineer gets hilariously broken… so on and so forth. May be a bit magical christmas land, but it could happen.

Narset snowballs like crazy. I’ve seen a lot of dreaming with her and generator servamt, but honestly, She’s control for days. Her ability triggers before blockers are declared, so you can grab enough damage or bounce with her to remove any blockers or at least first strike them out off of one of the spells. She wont be a midrange card, but she cleans up in control very well.

A four power haste flier for 3 would invalidate a lot of decks. I guarantee that this card is leagues better than Thoctar. I mean, just look how effectively it completely blanks Xenagos. I think the card is very good.

I would want more power, personally. It just feels like a 3/3 could be outclassed very quickly. Should be able to get 4 or even 5 power at 3 different colored mana. See: Woolly Thoctar, Doran, the Siege Tower.