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Dragons of Tarkir Spoilers – 3/3/15

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We got dumped on overnight, so let's get to it.

Silumgar's Assassin

Silumgar's Assassin
1B
Creature - Human Assassin
Creatures with power greater than Silumgar's Assassin's power can't block it.

Megamorph 2B (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up at any time for its megamorph cost and put a +1/+1 counter on it.)

When Silumgar's Assassin is turned face up, destroy target creature with power 3 or less an opponent controls.

 

6 mana is a lot to pay for killing a creature with power three or less, but getting a 3/2 afterward isn't terrible. Realistically, though, this likely never cracks the roster in constructed. This will be a great limited card, but no duh, it's rare.

Radiant Purge

Every time I see a card like this I get really excited. Then I remember back to the last block and how much play a card like Renounce the Guilds got relative to its hype. This is better than Renounce the Guilds, especially since we have to kill gods and Chromanticores and Siege Rhinos for a while. Is this maindeckable? It could be. I expect this to be $3-$5 if it's as good as everyone thinks it is. It's splashable, also, which is good news for control decks. This could end up being a white Doom Blade with upside or it could end up another Renounce the Guilds. Bet accordingly.

Thunderbreak Regent

Creature - Dragon
Flying

Whenever a dragon you control becomes the target of a spell or ability your opponent controls, Thunderbreak Regent deals 3 damage to that player.

This is a sweet card. Does a constructed deck want this, though? A 4/4 flier for 4 is very appropriately-costed and the punisher mechanic can give you some additional reach even if they kill it before it attacks. You may not even need other dragons for this to be good. But what deck wants this? I could see this getting there, but this has a lot of competition for the slots it wants to go in and it's competing with mythics. We'll see. There are so many dragons in this block, just being a dragon isn't enough anymore. A card really has to distinguish itself and I'm not sure this does.

Sunscorch Regent

Now THIS I am OK with. This does a very good impression of an angel, and maybe even a playable one. This has a cool form of reverse Prowess that I am liking. Could this see play in a slow, white-based control deck? I would say yes, but there is another dragon we need to discuss that is better in that shell so I am inclined to say this will be overshadowed. Cool for EDH, though. If Taurean Mauler is good in EDH, this is even better! I could see this worth a few bucks as a result, though it may take some time to get there.

Pristine Skywise

This is the one I meant. 6 mana is expensive, but a UW control deck should be able to handle that. Historically, angels with this ability were finishers in control decks. You saved your mana to save this. Any cantrip, burn spell or counterspell means this can play defense as well as offense and is tough as nails to kill. This isn't as obvious a control finisher as was Aetherling, and we need to look at Aetherling's price trajectory to remind us that being an obvious control finisher doesn't mean diddly for non-mythics anymore. This could be even better than Prognostic Sphinx and worth even less. EDH appeal may buoy its price a bit, but I am not betting money on it. I really, really like this as a playable card, but not as a buyable one, necessarily. SCG sold out at $0.49 but if they restock above like $1.50 I am out completely.

Harbinger of the Hunt

This seems like it might be miserable to play against, but it's so mana-hungry that his ability may only be good against fringey token strategies. 3 toughness gives me pause, being a non-mythic gives me pause and liking about 30 dragons better gives me pause. Still, dragons are at least collectible, and having 3 abilities means it has 3 chances to really impact play. I am less bullish about him than I am Pristine Skywise, but he has potential.

Boltwing Marauder

This comes at an awkward spot in the mana  curve for RB decks. Still, tokens coming into play all trigger him and could give a token or dragon or some other creature a big boost. Hordeling Outburst gives you a Ball Lightning's worth of extra damage and can even boost Boltwing itself. Is this the card RB decks need? Maybe, maybe not. There is potential, but I worry about a card that requires you to play creatures AFTER your 5 drop dragon to get the most of his abilities. Still, a 5/4 flier is a clock. We'll have to see how this plays out, but I don't have high hopes for the non-mythics, especially with last set's non-mythic dragons for reference.

Necromaster Dragon

This doesn't even feel like a part of the cycle it's in. It's closer to Dromar than it is Boltwing. The difficulty in hitting someone with a 5 mana 4/4 doesn't feel appropriately-compensated by his ability. Milling someone two at a time takes a lot longer than the 5 hits that straight plowing into them takes. It might as well give them a poison counter, too. You're just as likely to cut them to a good card as you are to mill it and with dredge running around why help them out? Also, this does the opposite of scale correctly for EDH. You tick off everyone at the table with a small amount of milling but only get a single 2/2 zombie no matter how many players you mill? This card is confusing and I don't like it.

Arashin Sovereign

Eww. WG dragons don't have to be bad - Dromoka is a pretty sweet dragon. Dromoka also plummeted from $1.50 to $0.75 over the past 2 months. Expect this to do less.

Ojutai's Command

DID SOMEBODY SAY COMMAND?!?!?!!!!!1

Also, you'll never unsee the guy taking a group photo with a selfie stick. "Say 'Cheese!'"

Cheese is right. This card does it all, and it does it in Jeskai where you want to play non-creature spells. Spells like this one. This initially seemed to everyone like it is a great card to have backing up a Pristine Skywise, for example. Mana-hungry, yes, but this has 4 modes, and picking two is rad.

Will every tribe get a command? I am not sure, but this is likely to get played the most because it counters a spell and draws a card. However, countering a creature spell is a low priority for a color with wraths, so any resemblance this bears to Cryptic Command is exaggerated. If this countered a non-creature, initial excitement is likely warranted. As it is, if you don't compare it to Cryptic Command and look at it as a way to deal with Stoke the Flames and other nuisance cards and a way to trigger prowess, this could hover around $5 +/- a few bucks.

Shaman of Forgotten Ways

It's been so long since Biorhythm has been banned in EDH, the way has been forgotten.

This isn't Biorhythm. This is less than a fifth as good. This will not be banned. This is not bannable. Honestly, if you're playing EDH and you have 8 power worth of creatures, you probably are either going to win with a Craterhoof or you have enough elves to win with Helix Pinnacle. I think this is fun and cheeky in EDH and it could be fun to try and win with this, especially if one of your opponents is playing Voltron and this will put them at either 1 or 0. I think this is more cute than good, it's way too slow for a non-EDH format and it's likely to be overrated by people who can't not see Biorhythm. This is not a total dud in limited, though, as it ramps considerably. This may replace Somberwald Sage in one or two of my decks and this certainly goes in a deck that has Genesis Wave capabilities or which can generate a lot of tokens like Rhys or Nath. All in all, I expect initial overreactions to make the price be too high at first. Trade these off of angry spikes at the prerelease if you want to play with them, don't pay the $8 SCG wants for these.

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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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Posted in Dragons of Tarkir Spoiler Coverage, Dragons of Tarkir spoilers, FreeTagged , , , , , , , , ,

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5 thoughts on “Dragons of Tarkir Spoilers – 3/3/15

  1. I agree with your assessments, though it’s important to note that you don’t need 8 creatures for the Shaman’s ability…you need 8 total power from what creatures you do have, thus you could have a 4/4, this guy, and a 2/2 and activate his second ability (granted you’d drop to 3 life, but still)

  2. Shaman of Forgotten Ways might be very good in Genesis Hydra decks during the short period in which they both occupy Standard. It is very unfortunate that its mana ability can’t be used to activate creature abilities though.

  3. I’m excited about the mono red dragon because red doesn’t get 4/4 flying 4 drops…with upside no less. It might not be 360 cubable but it’ll get a shot in mine

  4. Would love to see wizards come off the U/B = mill train. Its a cool, durdley casual effect, but really really boring after the 5th or so set in a row to make that the only keyword on every single U/B card. *snore*

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