This is a problem. And it causes these reviewers, talented and professional card evaluators though they may be, to sadly miss the mark when it comes to the role these commons can play in a format built entirely around commons, nothing else of higher rarity, completely within the confines of presently Standard-legal sets. These restrictions (which are what breed creativity, right, Mr. Rosewater?) are what makes Standard Pauper what it is - and what makes it the most challenging, rewards, and, above all, affordable Magic: The Gathering format possible.
These cards deserve extensive criticism from this angle. The fact that they are often passed over as "good in Limited, bad in Constructed, let's move on" just gives me the Blues. Having said that, lets move on to the second-to-last entry in Cabel's Critique of Dragons of Tarkir with the "best" color in Magic...
BLUE
This card is a prime example of how those other reviewers that focus on Money formats lack depth when it comes to card critiques. They'd quickly state this as being bad on it's face and say no more. I agree it's bad, but let's go deeper. First of all, we've already seen a vanilla 2/5 for 4U printed at common before (M11's Armored Cancrix, reprinted in M14), and so we can criticize this card as bringing absolutely nothing new to the table. But most important, even that card was worse than the first creature with the same casting cost and power & toughness: Zendikar's Sky Ruin Drake's were identical and he also had flying. Now that would have been good.
So, R&D: why a fish that functionally reprints a crap in a set named Dragons of Tarkir? A common Dragon to replace the Drake creature type would have been perfect, especially considering the next plane we revisit after Tarkir is Zendikar itself. But instead we get a damn fish. This is inexcusable. And to make that case requires some explanation in order to preemptively destroy any lame ass excuse Wizards might pull out of their butts trying to justify trash like Ancient Carp.
Cabel's Critique: FAIL
Anticipate
Now that's better. I'm all about top-deck fixing as one of the most Blue things you can do. We've seen these be very powerful in Standard Pauper before. Indeed, cards like Ponder and Preordain end up being banned in Money formats because they're too good at finding the really powerful cards there. So I can understand the development team being careful with the cast cost here. Two mana is still a bargain, and instant-speed lets the Blue mage spend what she held up for counter magic at the end of her opponent's turn. The art is attractive, the flavor text mentions one of the Five M's of Cabel the Pauper, and the one-word name makes use of a perfect candidate that's been waiting for something just like this for years. I am pleased with Anticipate and couldn't be happier.
Cabel's Critique: WIN
Contradict
One of the precious few places to get a review of new cards for Standard Pauper is MagicGatheringStrat. During their review, Contradict got laughed at and skewered. That's fine, but I must respectfully disagree. One of the reviewers asked "Why does it have to cost five?" I can answer that: Because this is good. Countering a spell and then drawing a card is a powerful effect. It's even more powerful when we're restricting ourselves to only commons. Dismiss is four mana because it is uncommon and has to deal with other uncommons as well as rares and mythics. It might see print at common some day if we get rid of this "New World Order" garbage and get our power creep back.
But until that day, I'm willing to say that Contradict is the perfect counterspell for commons in Standard Pauper. I'm reminded of the last truly great hard counter for five mana that was good enough to see play: Traumatic Visions. We also saw Lost in the Mist in Innistrad block, which was not bad as a singleton in the Mill decks of the day. In the present Standard Pauper metagame, I can see Contradict being perfectly acceptable one-of inclusion in the maindeck of a Mono Blue Control deck or even an extra copy in an Izzet Tokens sideboard for breaking the mirror.
Furthermore, for personal aesthetic reasons, the name is prefect given my dedication to Hegelian and Marxist dialectics, which have contradictions at their heart. Top this all off with some gorgeous artwork of a dragon saying "no" that caused many to (foolishly) believe that Force of Will was going to be reprinted and I have to answer the question of whether this card is win or fail in a way the good folks at MagicGatheringStrat might not like, but it's the correct answer.
Cabel's Critique: WIN
At this point in my lengthy critiques, it should be clear to you, dear reader, that I am not a fan of Megamorph. The mechanic is bad to begin with. It's not at all creative. And nearly every creature that has been graced with it's lackluster presence it's a bad creature to begin with, being either overcosted or with irrelevant statistics and abilities, if not all three. This sea serpent has all three failing qualities. A 6/5 defender gets you nowhere in Standard Pauper no matter how many +1/+1 counters you place on it and there are plenty of better things to do at three mana than drop a vanilla, colorless 2/2 morph dude in the format. This will not see play in Standard Pauper for good reason.
Cabel's Critique: FAIL
Elusive Spellfist
Here we have the an example of how the Prowess mechanic has evolved, slightly hidden from view as the keyword ability has been removed. Instead of consistently giving a mere power and toughness boost, we are now allowed a range of extra effects instead. As far as these go, making a creature unblockable is usually quite good in Standard Pauper. Getting an extra power boost when already attached to a respectable toughness of three should be excellent. I'm not sure the metagame is ready for a Blue mage to build around this card as a win condition given the other options currently available. But the design is good enough to warrant this a second look after Theros block rotates. Keep this Monk in mind when that time comes and he may end up performing quite well.
Cabel's Critique: WIN
Another nice mechanic that gets even more powerful when using only commons is Hexproof. Some Standard Pauper decks ran a lone copy of a huge Hexproof dude as their sole win condition or a reliable backup plan. Making a creature Hexproof at instant speed is pretty much synonymous with countering a removal spell, saving your creature. Considering all this, Glint fails somewhat by providing a boost to toughness instead of power, saving your creature, what, twice? Adding the ability to act as removal and counter at the same time would have made this card a clear winner. Sadly, it's not that good. It's merely okay.
Cabel's Critique: TRICK
Gurmag Drowner
This is a rather difficult creature to evaluate. Exploit seems like the power mechanic of the set. Setting up your topdeck is something Blue can take advantage of. Gatekeeper statistics have proven reliable in Standard Pauper. However, this card essentially does not replace itself as any card advantage one would have gained is negated by having to sacrifice another creature. Sacrificing this to itself does not seem like a good play, either, not when we consider the other card drawing spells and library manipulators available this late in the card pool. Paupers will have to test this fellow out before declaring a winner or loser. I'm giving a custom critique that leaves room for improvement but leans toward the latter.
Cabel's Critique: SAC
Ugh. Another inexplicably overcosted Megamorph creature that fails. Yes, getting a spell back from the yard is usually pretty good. Being able to grab a Planeswalker or Artifact might be cool in Money Magic, but those mythics don't exist in Standard Pauper. Neither do any decent artifacts. We've got access to the reasonable Mnemonic Wall for five mana, which provides nice stats for control decks. But getting only a 4/3 with no evasion - no nothing! - after spending nine mana? That's not going to work. Using a copy or two of the Wall to get back your card-advantage-granting token-generators in blue will. Not this.
Cabel's Critique: FAIL
Mystic Meditation
Well this is interesting. Another addition to Blue's set-up cards for burying your opponent in card advantage seems nice, but gives this guy lots of competition. And if you're playing a creature light control deck, you'll be hard pressed to get that kind of value out of this baby. Sorcery speed hurts here as well. Will a creature-heavy blue deck be able to make use of this as it's only noncreature spell? We'll have to wait and see. Nice card name and artwork, though.
Cabel's Critique: PITCH
Why do I spend time on reprints like this when critiquing a new set? Because that makes the critique complete. And my criticism here is very much the same as other reprints I've skewered, so I will take the time to repeat myself: if the card already exists in the metagame, then there is no reason to reprint it. Negate is a good card, no doubt, a staple in Blue. But we have access to this in M15 so this does not impact us or add anything new. A new bad spell that riffs on this basic design would at least be more exciting even in disappointment. Seeing the same damn thing over again is just boring and indicates creative laziness on the part of R&D.
Cabel's Critique: FAIL
Ojutai Interceptor
Here is another slot that should probably have been filled with a common Dragon. And yet another Megamorph card that is too costly to be of any use-value in Standard Pauper. 3/1 for 3U and flying is too expensive and aggressive for a Blue deck. Everything other criticism I've already leveled at Megamorph has already been said. I'll waste no more space before failing this entry.
Cabel's Critique: FAIL
Many players might disagree with me, but I'm a fan of Crippling Chill and the whole tap-for-two-turns effect that Blue gets. It buys a lot of time and tempo when used defensively or as an offensive measure to clear a path for your finishers. In order to be good, it's got to be three mana or less or have some kind of extra value attached. This is the ultimate upside beyond cantripping: you get to repeat the effect for free thanks to the return of the powerful Rebound mechanic. This could easily get the Blue mage out of some very sticky situations and be just the ticket to victory, getting rid of two attackers or blockers two turns in a row for the cost we usually pay for doing it just once. Enjoy this while you can; sets are going to rotate out faster than usual once we say goodbye to the old three-set-block paradigm. That and by virtue of it's very block-specific name and rarely used Rebound mechanic, once this rotates it will likely be a very long time before we see it again, if ever at all.
Cabel's Critique: WIN
Ojutai's Summons
I love cards that make tokens. My favorite deck in the current Standard Pauper metagame has got to be the creatureless Izzet Control deck that uses Rise of Eagles and Flurry of Horns for its win conditions. Getting two creatures out of one card is extraordinarily powerful in Standard Pauper. This card has the potential to do two things: replace Rise of Eagles with a card that gives the exact same power and evasion as that card at one less mana (and these Djinn Monks are no longer susceptible to enchantment hate like the old bird tokens) or the existence of this piece might enable a mono-blue version of the Izzet control and tokens strategy. And a Rebound spell that makes dudes just had to happen for my life to be complete. That makes this my favorite Blue card in the set and a winner with an exclamation point.
Cabel's Critique: WIN!
Palace Familiar
In order for Exploit to be a good mechanic, there need to be good creatures to exploit. This owl would be a great card on it's face even if it didn't exist within this setting. It's been a playable effect when we've seen it before on cards like Runewing in Return to Ravnica and Jeskai Sage has proven itself as useful in the WU Heroic build currently wreaking havoc on the MTGO environment. Now we have Palace Familiar, a simple 1/1 flyer at a mere two mana that will die and will replace itself whether left to its own devices of Exploited for extra value. One would be wise to obtain a playset.
Cabel's Critique: WIN
Don't be fooled into thinking this is some new mechanic. In fact, it's the first time we see "becomes x/y" errata'ed in print as "has base power and toughness x/y." This is a great development in design to make the rules a bit clearer to new players and veterans alike. It's not a bad effect here, either. I'm one who still maintains that Turn to Frog belongs at common, and perhaps with this new wording we may see that in it's proper place sometime later. So more for the linguistic fix, the flavorful name and artwork, and the hope this gives me for the future of Standard Pauper, I'm giving this card my top rating.
Cabel's Critique: WIN
Sidisi's Faithful
This is a thinking man's piece if I ever saw one. There's not much to write home about in a 0/4 blocker for one mana. But if you've ever been an aggro player and seen something like this drop on your opponent's first turn, you know the feel-bad I'm referencing. This baby give the defensive player even more flexibility. Unsummon is often overlooked as basic but can still be quite useful. One can always Exploit this creature to itself to get that effect, possibly filling up your yard for later Delve purposes. That flavor text is also preciously snarky. But I'm not convinced that it's a win. A 1/x for another mana would have provided even more flexibility and it may end up that the available instant and sorcery bouncers might set the bar too high for this for Standard Pauper to patronize. At least I got a mixology/barkeeping reference out of him. Other than that, I'm going to have to ask him to leave for not being cool enough for my exclusive establishment :-)
Cabel's Critique: BOUNCE
Once again, making a creature unblockable in Standard Pauper is generally quite good. Pumping a creature is also best if the power boost is equal to or greater than your mana investment. We have both elements here. But then we run into some trouble if we wish to be truly critical of the card. Sorcery speed hurts Strike's final evaluation. Four mana up front is an awful lot for a pump spell, even if it does have Rebound. At instant speed or at three mana, it would definitely be a different story. If printed at three mana AND instant speed, we'd have a clear winner. As it stands, it cannot be a winner. Somebody is going to have to actually win with this card before I'm willing to re-evaluate it any better than merely passing.
Cabel's Critique: PASS
Updraft Elemental
It may not look like much, but we have a nice evolution in card design and a balanced entry in power creep here. This is the first ever 1/4 flyer at common in blue for three mana. And it's splashable at that. Outside the range of Lightning Strike and able to block just about anything in the air all day, it may not be terribly competitive, but it cannot be terrible. In fact, I like the opaque element in the artwork and the very Zen final question in the flavor text. It's sheer brilliance in design from to bottom.
Cabel's Critique: WIN
I wonder if I'm going to end up looting the dump boxed at the local card shop for copies of this Scribe. Looting is very good in Limited, but Limited players are notorious for leaving the commons they draft behind when the night is over. Being able to loot twice in a single turn is probably even better in a spell-heavy Blue deck. But that one-toughness makes him very susceptible to removal. Only time will tell if it's an enlightened choice for constructed or it's condemned to the bulk stock for eternity.
Cabel's Critique: LOOT
There you have your criticisms of all the Blue commons in Dragons of Tarkir. Taken as a whole, it's a fair crop, with nothing too powerful and nothing too terrible as we saw previously in Black. We've got only one color to go, the Whites, before my first extensive critique of a new set release is finally complete.
As always, thanks for reading this far. And if you think I've been overly critical, let me know in the comments. Because at this point, even I think I need a break from excessive blogging! So until next time, good luck & have fun while we wait for the set to drop. Peace,
- C
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