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Editor: Rebecca Mitchell. Thursday 6 February 2003.
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Legions Limited Review - Blue
By Dan Turner & Nik Smith To put it simply, Blue still sucks. There are some cards here that should not have been printed (i.e. Fugitive Wizard) and others, which only just make the cut in limited. It is not all bad though as most of the rares are actually pretty good for limited play such as the powerful Weaver of Lies and the sneaky Chromeshell Crab. Blue still looks like a support colour but it finally has a common bounce spell in the form of Echo Tracer and Pendrell Drake gets a reprint thanks to Keeneye Aven. Nik has once again thrown in his own $NZ 0.02 with the reviews so you should be able to get a fair idea of how well these cards play in limited. Back with black next week, so until then... Aven Envoy Nik: What a pile. Can’t even be bothered trying to justify drafting this. 15th. Dan: Absolute rubbish. If you do end up playing this something has gone fundamentally wrong with your draft or you are just a bad player. Not even a pick, 15th. Cephalid Pathmage Nik: 1/2 just doesn’t cut it. The ability might be useful once, if you had Phage or something. Otherwise, it’s kind of dumb. A Late pick. 12th or so. Dan: Another good reason not to draft Dlue, the Pathmage would be so much better if you didn't have to sacrifice it. Expect to play this sort of card when there are 4 or more Blue drafters on the table (i.e. never), a late pick 12th to 15th. Chromeshell Crab Nik: Cool. I like this in limited, as you get whatever is causing you trouble, and they get a vanilla 3/3 which shouldn’t be too much of a problem in this format. Team this up with an Echo Tracer or two, and you can have some fun. This shouldn’t be too hard as Blue is usually lightly drafted in Onslaught, so there shouldn’t be too much competition. A first pick, probably, and it’s even splashable. Dan: There are plenty of good creatures in draft at the moment and the Chromeshell can get all of them bar a Quicksilver Dragon. You don’t have to swap the Crab as Nik suggested because you get to choose the target. Easy to splash too and a quality first draft pick. Covert Operative Nik: Well, I’ve seen this win a game, so I have some respect for it. 3 power makes it ok, but it should be around in the mid-late draft. Not a first pick, but good enough to take 5th onwards. Dan: I nearly was beaten by a couple of these guys in a recent draft as evasion is still very important in ON/ON/LE draft. Blue has the most evasive creatures so it comes as no surprise that the Operative will see play. Not as good as a Keeneye Aven but good if your deck is lacking in the creature department, a mid to late pick 7th to 10th. Crookclaw Elder Nik: Not bad. It only needs one friend and it can get to work, and it can use its ability the turn it comes into play, meaning it should replace itself at worst. A nice card, and should be taken reasonably early. 6cc seems high, but in this format you should get to that, so it’s acceptable. 3rd onwards I’d say, but it would have to be a good card to get picked over this. Dan: Crookclaw Elder is better than the one from Onslaught because its first ability is broken, as you can draw multiple cards in one turn (especially if you have Mistforms!) and secondly because it has flying. 6 mana is a lot but it is worth the card advantage, an early pick, 3rd to 5th. Dermoplasm Nik: Great with big morphs, and it has morph, which makes it ok anyway. The ability could be useful, either to drop in a big guy, block then bounce before damage resolves, or just get a creature into play as an instant at the end of your opponents turn. I’d pick it first. Dan: After chatting to my partner in crime about this card I quickly realised how good this is. There are plenty of big morph creatures in Onslaught which can be played literally as instants when you morph this guy. Better still he comes back to your hand, ready to do it again next turn. In U/R he is good with Battering Craghorn, Skittish Valesk and Mistform Shrieker. If you do happen to draft U/G then make sure you abuse all those big morph fatties like Treespring Lorian, Spitting Gourna and Towering Baloth. Another good rare, a first pick. Dreamborn Muse Nik: Not the best of the muses, by any means. Decking isn’t the best of strategies in draft usually, and this condition could make it difficult anyway. The fact this is 2/2 isn’t great either. Pass this and take some flyers. A later pick, 8th or so. Dan: I would have thought the blue muse would have card drawing but oh well, I guess it is another attempt to dumb down Blue. Because this affects both players it could be risky in limited but this definitely has constructed potential. 4 mana for a 2/2 without any other abilities is not great so I wouldn't be taking this highly. A mid to late range pick, 7th to 10th. Echo Tracer Nik: This guy is great. Just take it. It’s a Man-o'-War at instant speed. My favourite Blue common in the set. A first pick unless you open a broken rare. Otherwise, take it if you see it. Dan: I had a lot of fun with this at the prerelease and it has so many uses it is not funny. All of the good morph creatures in Legions work well with this and I can't see a situation where the Tracer would not be useful. Like the Aphetto Grifter's text says they work better in tandem so try to pick up at least two of these, early picks 2nd to 4th, depending on how much evasion you already have. Fugitive Wizard Nik: Whatever. Next. Dan: I bet it took R & D a long time to think about this one. Seriously why did they bother? There is nothing fugitive about this wizard at all, in fact the person that "designed" this should be hunted down. A waste of cardboard, 15th. Gempalm Sorcerer Nik: Sucky, but it does cycle. 10th to 12th pick I guess. Dan: This is pretty cheap to cast and handy to cycle. Most decks should be able to run a Gempalm or two but the sorceror is possibly the weakest one of the set (in terms of his ability). I wouldn't be actively drafting this guy though making him a mid to late range pick in my opinion, 9th to 12th. Glintwing Invoker Nik: Although the ability is very late-game, this guy is 3/3. 5 mana is a bit much, but you could do worse. It should come kind of late, so no hurry to draft this. Say 9th onwards. Dan: Black has the best Invoker and the Red one is a close second. The White one is crap and I'm neither here nor there on the Green one leaving this guy. I've passed the Glintwing a couple of times now but I would still run one of these guys if I really had to. Occasionally games will drag out and the Invokers are excellent end gamers, although if I am U/R then go for the Flamestick chap. A late pick, 12th to 15th. Keeneye Aven Nik: 2/3 flier for 4 is fine, and it cycles if your situation demands it. A good card. 4th to 7th pick. Dan: Keeneye Aven edges out Ascending Aven as Blue's best common flyer (with Mistform Seaswift up there as well) just because it cycles. An extra point of toughness and the ability to block ground creatures is well worth the loss of a point of power making this a good early pick, 1st to 3rd. Keeper of the Nine Gales Nik: Unlike the Crookclaw Elder, this guy needs two friends and does have summoning sickness. It’s ability is nice if you get it going, but it is expensive and you have to keep 2 other birds in play. Not too bad, but not great. 7th pick, unless you have a lot of birds, and then you can take it a bit higher. Dan: If I drafted the Keeper I might even play Aven Envoy (thats the one and only reason!), but even then you still need another bird to use this guy. Quite good against fatties and creatures with enchantments but bloody useless against most of the trickier morphs in Legions, I think the Keeper may be a little over rated. He is also very defensive as you need to leave flyers back to bounce stuff so I may well take an Echo Tracer over this. A mid range pick, 5th to 7th. Master of the Veil Nik: Nice. Can be good if you have tricks, e.g Skinthinner, Skirk Marauder or Echo Tracer. 2/3 is not too bad. A mid range pick, 6th to 9th. Dan: Ah the new morph master! He is a one shot wonder but a great tempo card with a cheap morph cost ensuring that your Skirk Marauders will be working overtime. This will not go around the table, an earlyish pick, 4th to 6th. Merchant of Secrets Nik: It will never make the cut. If you have a card you sideboard in and will win the game if you just draw it, then maybe, but I still doubt it. Keep it moving along. 14th. Dan: Another crap Blue common with a less than marginal ability which will see virtually no limited use, Merchant of Secrets will be residing in sideboards all over the world. 15th. Mistform Seaswift Nik: Yes. This I like. 3 power and cheap. Also handy if there is a sliver in play, or for Lavamancer's Skills, or any other good tribal cause. A very early pick, 2nd and onwards. Dan: Nik is bang on the money with this card as its mistform ability is crazy with slivers (thinking Shifting and Synapse Sliver here) and it even has morph to boot. I still think the Keeneye Aven edges this out as best Blue flyer but I'm starting to like this a lot. A good early pick, 3rd to 5th. Mistform Sliver Nik: Not the best of the slivers, but it does give them tribal abilities. If you have other slivers, then maybe, otherwise you can probably do better than this. 9th to 13th. Dan: Slivers are better at being slivers than any other creature so I wouldn't really bother with this. It is hard to draft a lot of slivers as you only get 1 Legions pack and even then you need to draft the good rare/uncommon ones. A late pick, 12th to 15th. Mistform Ultimus Nik: It’s a 3/3 for 4, so it’s worth taking, and the tribal ability may come in handy. An early pick, 3rd to 6th. Dan: Wow so this is a Leviathan, Elemental, Dragon, Demon and Angel all in one. Pity it doesn’t have flying, but still a good target for Lavamancer's Skill. You won’t be wetting your pants if you open this though, a mid range pick, 4th to 7th. Mistform Wakecaster Nik: The fact that this is a mistform saves it. I really respect the mistform ability, so it makes it an early pick for me. A 2/3 flier is ok too. The second ability may prove useful, but I’ve not yet seen it used in actual play. I’m sure there are a million stories how awesome it can be, so don’t bother mailing me and telling me all of them. An early pick, 3rd to 6th. Dan: I tried this guy out once against a sliver deck so I could turn my creatures into slivers and use their abilities but it was too slow and would have been easier just to bash with flyers instead. Sometimes these cards are too funky and a Mistform Seaswift will do the job by itself. Still 3 toughness on a flyer is good but I would take Seaswifts and Keeneye Avens over this, a mid range pick, 6th or 7th seems about right. Primoc Escapee Nik: I’m glad this cycles. 7cc 4/4 flyers generally miss the cut, but this will probably make it just because I won’t get stuck with it in my opening hand. Doesn’t make it a first pick though. About 7th I guess, but maybe earlier. Dan: 7 mana for a 4/4 flying cycler? I can't say I'm too excited it but would probably run it for the same reason as . A mid range draft, 7th to 9th. Riptide Director Nik: Another good card. With a few mistforms and all the wizards in Onslaught, this guy can quite often net you 4-5 cards a turn. Decent power and toughness too. First pick. Dan: This is so much better than the Archivist from Urza's Block it is not funny. You should always be able to draw at least 2 cards from this guy when you play him, making it a first pick in my book. Riptide Mangler Nik: This is fine. It’s a pity it doesn’t swap power with the other creature, making it a zero, but you can’t have everything I guess. This will always be at least 2, and often 4 or more power. Good and cheap, so an early pick. You might pass it for a cheap flyer or Echo Tracer, so I’ll say 3rd. Dan: I like the cut of the mangler's jib as it can take down any ground creature. A good morph blocker on the third turn too makes this a solid early pick. 3rd to 5th seems about right. Shifting Sliver Nik: This teams really well with any mistforms you may have. If you have mistforms, this makes a whole pile of your guys virtually unblockable, especially the flyers. An early pick, 4th or so. Dan: This is pretty good if you have Mistform creatures (i.e Seaswifts and Dreamers) and may even be worth playing a sliver or two. I would try and draft this relatively early in the pack, then go for the Mistform creatures, so around 4th or 5th would be good. Synapse Sliver Nik: Keeping in with the pattern for Blue, this is nice with your misforms. This and Shifting Sliver are the reasons cards like Mistform Seaswift are so good. A very high pick, 2nd or 3rd. Dan: Synapse Sliver and Toxin Sliver are my favourites and work really well with the Mistform creatures. I think this guy would be a first pick but bear in mind that if your opponent has mistforms (especially flyers) then they can benefit too. A good rare, 1st to 3rd. Voidmage Apprentice Nik: Counters are always good. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff you want to stop is morphs, and you never know what morph you are countering. This means it is not as good as you might first think. Still it’s not bad, but not as high as it might be. I’d say 7th or so. Dan: Counterspells are few and far between in Onslaught/Legions so I think the apprentice has some merit. Does it make the cut of draft decks though? I would only play this guy if I knew my opponent had a bomb which I had no way to deal with, say Insurrection or Starstorm but otherwise he will be sitting on the benches. A late pick 12th to 15th. Wall of Deceit Nik: This is ok. It can always kill any attacking 2/2, and 5 toughness is respectable anyway, stopping most of the creatures on the ground easily. It may go a bit later, and I’d rather a flyer, so I’ll say 8th or so. Dan: I'm a big fan of this card as I have used it several times now and every time it has been really good. High toughness, cheap to morph and can be turned back into an attacker for 3 mana - what more could you ask more? I think it is a slightly higher pick than Nik suggested, 5th to 7th. Warped Researcher Nik: 3/4 for 5 is ok, and the ability is not bad. Not much to say about this one really, so just say 9th pick or so and leave it at that. Dan: This is too expensive for my liking and I don't want to hold on to cycling cards just for this guy. Andrew Corney had this at the prerelease and didn't like him and that is good enough for me. A mid to late range pick, 9th to 12th. Weaver of Lies Nik: Expensive, but like Master of the Veil, the ability may be amazing in some circumstances. A very early pick, despite the casting cost. Take it if you open it, and hope you pick up the good commons in the later packs. Dan: Blue does have quite a few first pick rares in Legions and Weaver of Lies is no exception. If you have an unmorphed Echo Tracer in play then you have a nice lock where you can keep playing the weaver. Of course if you have other goodies like Skirk Marauder, Shaleskin Plower etc then the fun really starts. A first pick.
Willbender Nik: A walking deflection, that works on abilities too. This is great. Not a first pick, but worth taking quite early, say around 5th. Dan: The thing to remember with Willbender is you can retarget other morph abilities like Skinthinner and/or Skirk Marauder. Like Meddle, this is a bit too reactive as I would rather be beating my opponent down with flyers, but a good midrange pick none the less, 5th to 7th.
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