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In case you missed the first few editions of this article series, I’d like to briefly touch on the things we saw so far. In part one, we saw that the Invasion Block Dragons were revamped and sent back into battle, however this time lead by the nasty dragon Numot, the Devastator. Also, mixed in with a handful of average at best Slivers we found the granddaddy of all non-Legendary Slivers in the Necrotic Sliver; who just happens to be a walking Vindicate. In part two, we reviewed the Black cards of the set. We saw not only that we are bringing Sexy Black, but perhaps stronger than ever. Damnation is perhaps the most impressive card in the set, however cards like Shrouded Lore and Null Profusion could leave nasty tastes in defeated opponents' mouths for rounds. In this article, we will be looking at the Blue side of town. Of course I have taken the liberty of reading all the cards before I began this article, and I have been left with a question that I have often asked before, and people tend to think of me as cocky or arrogant for asking this question. However, I feel the need to ask it once again. Is there anyone out there who feels any color is even comparatively close to Blue? I covered Black last week, and as I said in the conclusion, MBC could make a strong return, as Black is way strong in Planar Chaos. Yet, here I am a week later stating that MUC, or Mono Blue Control could be the next wave of decks to hit the streets.
When looking at what Blue did, I found myself laughing. Not only did Blue trump the other colors in ability swapping, but it thumbed its nose at the rules in general. Not to get ahead of myself, but just to give an example of what I am talking about, take for example Dreamscape Artist. Finding its way into a common slot still baffles me, but the ability to turn every card in your deck into Harrow blows me away. In its time, Harrow was perhaps the most dominant utility card in the game. For the cost of a spell and a land sacrifice, I can fetch two lands in my deck. Remember that these lands aren't tapped either. So Blue takes a Green ability and does it better. I won’t get into the fact that Blue showed Black how to force discards at instant speed. Before I get into the cards individually, I’ll point out that now Blue doesn’t need Green for mana acceleration, and it doesn’t need Black for discard, and it doesn’t need Red for creature removal. What do the other colors do if you can’t get into a Blue X deck? They line up for a nice swift butt kicking that is sure to come.
Grade: A+ Look mom! No life loss!
Even Blue gets dud cards once in a while. While this guy could see time as a finisher in Limited, he is most likely a guy filling the $0.25 box at your local store. Grade: F
With the White card we will be getting to soon, Retether, you could really pound a player into submission in one fell swoop with this card. In a moment we will be getting to a creature that makes all of your creatures unblockable, combo him, Retether, and Auramancer’s Guise together, and you get one really big, unblockable freight train. Grade: B Double Blue mana makes this one a little steep.
This little guy is Blue’s version of Zombify. Instead of putting that creature into play, for 1 more, you keep the original nasty creature in the grave for safety, and this guy copies it for you. Don’t forget that you can copy your opponent’s recently countered Akroma with this. Grade: B+
Well lookie who changed sides! Braids and I had a love / hate relationship back in the Odyssey days. I hated her when I played her, and I usually loved her when someone else played her. She never really worked well, as unless she was played on turn three, she really messed everything up for everyone. This time around however, I don’t think I like her at all. She scares me like a Howling Mine scares me. I put the time, effort, and mana into the card, and you benefit from her first, then you Shock her. I don’t think I like it. What could I possibly do to capitalize on her? Toss out an early Akroma? Tidespout Tyrant? Either way I look at it, I don’t think she makes it out of summoning sickness, which means I never get to put a creature into play with her. Grade: C+ Originality on Wizards part keeps her out of my dog house.
I am uncertain about this guy at the moment. He is direct damage range, so more than likely, I will be paying 4 for a flying 3/3 body that gets plucked from the sky. However, should he not get plucked, then he falls in with cards like Roar of the Wurm and Call of the Herd, where I get multiple creatures for one card. This ability made those cards valuable, so in theory, so should this one. However again, since I was not too high on Deadly Grubb making it through the Vanishing to become a Deadly Insect, I am not high on this guy surviving three Upkeeps to become two Chronozoas. Grade: C+ Limited use, as there is typically less removal there.
Wha..? Really? Look at the suspend on this thing. That must have been a misprint. Why would it be only three turns and three mana when normal is nine mana? Must be a mistake. I’ll take it though. Grade: A- I must be seeing something wrong. I must be! I get to copy your board?!
Not only is it bad enough that I countered your spell, but for the cost of four mana, and one card, I countered two spells (potentially) as I am also forcing a discard. Of course you could just discard your Red Arrogant Wurm and get the last laugh, but I still feel good about knocking two cards into the graveyard. Grade: A Damn Good.
Here is my new boy. While reading through the spoiler for the first time, I really did feel that had Damnation not been printed in this set, this common could possibly be the best card in the set. For two mana, I get a wimpy 1/1 body, but I also get a discard engine, who turns all the discarded cards into Harrow. On turn two, cast him. Turn three comes around, I can discard a card, sacrifice a tapped land, and filter two basic lands cards from my library and put them into play untapped (remembering that Remand and Mana Leak and Rune Snag and Remove Soul all cost U1) and have my counter backup still intact. This guy is an all-star, a hero, a superstar! (I am a member of the Dreamscape Artist fan club. President even.) Grade: A++ Too bad for Damnation…
Versatile cards seem to be in abundance in this set. This card could be used as instant speed removal or power boost. More than likely, this will be a Blue creature removal spell. Countering spells begin at 2 cmc, and that would mean this card would, at worst, give a creature +2/-2, and that kills most weenies. Should you hit a Psionic Blast, it moves up to +3/-3, or any Rewind, Careful Consideration, Wrath of God, Damnation, Dismal Failure, the creature gets +4/-4. Looks like a Sudden Death effect to me… Grade: A Blue always needed more creature removal anyways.
Originally, I had written here some stupid thing about how bad this guy is. Then as I started writing some of the combinations that this guy could be, something dawned on me. Vigilance… how did that one slip in there? Now think about it. The guy is a 4/4 body, which deters a lot of incoming traffic. However, he was not cast to be a wall. If you start off by giving him Vigilance (3/3), then add Shadow (2/2) more likely than not, he can attack and not be blocked, and deals two free points of damage. The key is that he is untapped to block as a 4/4 next turn. This is all null and void though since for one less mana you could just play the Blue Serra Angel and do all the blocking and attack you want with flying. Grade: B- He will wreck in Limited still.
When I was talking about the Magus of the Coffers last week, I mentioned that his body seemed way too inflated. This is more like what I had anticipated him being. Bazaar of Baghdad with legs huh? Honestly, I am uncertain about him in Standard. He has promise in Extended and Vintage as they have ready access to the graveyard at any moment. Standard is still a little clunky when it comes to graveyard utilization, not counting Reanimation. However, Reanimation does bring back to memory the Body Double and other Blue Shapeshifters that copy creatures in the graveyard. With Madness and Flashback being brought back in this block, I can see it used, since drawing two cards for a tap is still good at anytime. How much play will he see? Only time will tell. Grade: B?
Yay, more Blue creature removal. Don’t be fooled by what this card says. What it really says is.. Destroy target (White) Akroma, Avatar of Woe, Magus of the Coffers, Timbermare, [enter big, targetable, non-protection from blue creature name here]. Give that guy a monkey instead! Good card.
I don’t know about this one. It feels more like little league baseball. Remember the mercy rule? Play five innings and if your leading by ten runs or more, we will call the game. That is what this card feels like. You can beat my face in for three more turns, but after that you must sacrifice it. True, you could kill a land with it, perhaps an artifact. Grade: D Limited card at best. Just bounce the thing instead.
This creature could replace my Echo Tracer… I guess. Maybe? I don’t know. It morphs for the same cost, and it could kill a weenie. I don’t know. I predict a Limited mid-round pick that gets slipped in as a late choice. Grade: D+
Hey guys! Wouldn’t it be funny as hell if we could make someone Wrath of God on accident?! How funny would it be if … That had to be how it was presented to the design team back at Wizards headquarters. The problem is that the card says that they MAY play that card. So your countering that Char at the end of your turn with Spellshift. They flip,flip, flip and reveal Wrath of God. Why would they even go through with it? Having said that, this spell is just jacked up. It should not give the option to not cast the spell. It should just turn into a random spell and head to the stack to be resolved. That would be a cool card. Instead… Grade: D …for, damn did you mess this card up.
Ehh.. another sliver. Grade: C
This guy could either be really big, or sit in you hand for a really long time. It is not all that often you find a card that you WANT to draw on turn twenty and not a minute before. Grade: C Limited use.
Look! It's that long sought after one drop Wizard you needed for your Wizard deck. You're not building a Wizard deck? Oh. Well, then what about adding two counters to someone’s Rift Bolt? Two counters to their Ancestral Visions? Or how about taking two off of your Restore Balance? Grade: C- Lack of a real reason to play it.
Four turns after suspending this creature, you will get one attack in which your opponent's creatures are helpless to block. Not too bad in Limited, pretty damn good actually. Blue is not known for its creature aggro decks in constructed, so I wouldn’t expect to see this in a Constructed deck. Grade: B Limited Bomb.
Attention Black. This is how you do discard. True, random
discard is the best route, but at instant speed, I can dump mana into it and get
pretty much any card from your hand at the end of your turn. Money.
This card is just a horse. Think about it. Four cards is typically half your hand. So if you have seven cards, you draw up to nine, then discard down to five. It's alright, you more or less helped your opponent filter out the bad cards. However, at four cards, you draw up to six, and then discard down to two. At two cards, you draw up to four and then down to zero. Either way, losing four cards hurts. At sorcery speed, and the same cost as Compulsive Research, I really can’t see a reason for a traditional Blue deck to play this card, however a Megrim Black-Blue deck would love to pack a few of these in the sleeves.
Hey there Kismet, long time no see. Should I expect to see Stasis in white soon? Dear God I hope not. What this card does is slow your opponent down by one turn. All the resources he could muster can not be accessed the turn he gets them. So he must draw into something, play it, then untap it, which translates into a turn lost for him. Traditionally, this is the final piece of a lock deck. Grade: B- Should be a C, but I give Kismet its respect for the number of times it locked me down.
Skulking Ghost? I hardly recognized you in that Blue suit. Welcome back! Don’t be surprised if you see him see some competitive action. He is quick, has evasion, and any spell that would be targeting him would most likely kill him anyways. However, we had the most fun back in the Mirage days, trying to find the most creative ways to kill a Skulking Ghost, such as Erhnam Djinn giving him Forestwalk… Oh, he died! What the heck?! Fun. Grade: C+
I don’t know why you would play this outside of Limited. It makes for some interesting situations in that field. Too bad most creatures are X/X and not X/Y. He would combo reaaaaally good with Serendib Sorcerer though… Grade: C
Ohh, Humble. Didn’t think I would see this card again. Oh crap! Here comes (White) Akroma again, she is looking mighty angry… U1, she gets blocked and killed by my Dreamscape Artist. Oh no.. Grade: C
More instant speed discard, creature removal, and … creature gets Islandwalk? What the… ah, I’ll just ignore that one. Grade: B-
Hm.. I had an issue with Chronozoa earlier because I didn’t want to pay 4 for a 3/3 flier, so why would I want to 4 for a 2/2 flier? 4 for a 3/3 walking body is not good either. Not to mention that a wall has never won you a game (and stop with the Rolling Stones stories, no one wants to hear them anymore). Grade: D Has some Limited use due to evasion.
More discard. He could slip by once or twice I guess to force a discard. However, with the creature removal and counter that Blue possesses, we just might be able to protect this guy long enough for him to be effective. Grade: C
This is just a snatch steal of Sorceress Queen. Nothing cute; just a grab and yell, ”Gimme that!” Too bad it’s a rare. Grade: B- Really good in Limited play.
Back when I first started playing Magic, the most common deck was a counter spell deck with White for Wrath of God and Serra Angel. Ironic that 11 years later Serra would be donning the Blue robes. Grade: A
Blue ends up averaging around 2.54 as a group, which if we look at our chart, gives Blue a respectable C. Keep in mind, as always, a group is only as strong as its weakest links. The majority of the cards in Blue graded in as B – C so it would make sense that the group would round out in that range. Personally, I believe that in Standard Construction, you will see quite a few of the A and B cards showing up in your stores come early March. That’s all for this issue of First Impressions. Join me again next week when we cover my Arch Nemesis Green. I think you will be surprised at my evaluation of that color. Until next time, take care. cpn
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Spotlights from 2007: |
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When
I ask about the strengths of other colors, compared to Blue, here – in Planar
Chaos – is what I am referring to. Each color was given access to other colors'
standard abilities for this set. Most of the colors would grab at an ability,
and either goof around with it, or straight up use it and require a nasty
drawback. Like Black taking Counterspell and Time Walk, and making them be
counterable without even using a card to do so.
If
you look back at my comments last week about Roiling Horror, you’ll see a
striking similarity here. Each color has a creature in this fashion, where you
remove a time counter and do something. Welcome my friends to Blue’s Phyrexian
Arena. Now that Blue does not need to worry about such things as White mana or
Red mana, playing Urza Lands has never been so easy. Imagine having three of
these suspended for 15 turns, and getting three cards a turn for that duration. 
Ha!
I probably don’t have to explain my ‘Ha!’ but I will.
Grade:
B+
Grade:
B+
So
what did you think? Let's see how the grades averaged out and get a final grade
for Blue… (Remember the grading scale A = 4, F = 0)