You are: Home -> Articles -> Feature Article |
Editor: Michael Mason. Thursday 10 June 2004.
|
 Scrubbarama: Fifth Dawn - Blue Review Today, I have a break from my job scrubbing floors at the Random Restaurant, so I'd like to take the time to rant out my second review in this set. Blue is definitely my second favourite colour in draft with evasion beatdown and control being very much my type of game. I have played in a few more drafts now, so this one should be a little bit more credible than my black review. Whether you are an aspiring Nationals player or a fun-oriented FNM person, I hope you find these assessments interesting. I'd also like to hear your constructive criticism of my limited level of sense.
A guide to my ratings again:
Acquire Steal your opponent's best artifact! With half of permanents being artifacts this doesn't sound half bad. If you're lucky you could even steal a Platinum Angel or Clockwork Dragon. I don't think it is as good as Bribery, but in the last pack when you should be established in blue, it would still be pretty high, in most cases a first pick. Grade: A
Advanced Hoverguard Like Cackling Imp, he is a rather expensive two power flyer for four. However, the ability makes it difficult to remove, and in an environment where flyers are sparse in just about every other colour, he can still provide an effective clock, especially if you can equip him. Moderately high pick, considering that he is splashable. Grade: B
Artificer's Intuition OK, so you can search for Baubles, Spellbombs or even the odd Bonesplitter! Problem is, how the hell is this worth it if you have to ditch another artifact anyway? You'd have to play a zillion artifact land. This spell was good for a fleeting moment when Clamp-Works was around, but in Limited it's unplayable. Grade: D-
Beacon of Tomorrows In my very first tournament, ever, a Tempest sealed deck way back in '98, I got not one, but two, Time Warps. It has taken me a long time to learn that they aren't that good. While taking any Time Walk effect is tempting, a lot of the time you're going to be dead by the time you get to eight mana - there is no alternative casting cost. Believe me, when you're losing, an extra turn or even three is often not going to save you. When you're winning, you don't need this to waste your mana. Grade: C-
Blinkmoth Infusion Are you joking? Even with three or four artifacts on the board this is going to cost you upwards of ten mana to cast. On top of that, it's a symmetrical effect, meaning it will be situational at best. I wouldn't even play this in a mono-brown deck. Not that I'd ever been able to play one of those decks in draft. Grade: F
Bringer of the Blue Dawn OK, if you get him out, you're probably going to win the game. Two-thirds of an Ancestral every turn is definitely going to be a game-winner - just look at how good Mask of Memory was. But that's where the good news ends. This guy is nine mana to cast, and unless you can somehow get Sunburst working, may the gods help you get it into play. I think that drafting Sunburst is too risky in block draft as there's only one pack of Sunburst cards and you'd have to spread your mana base very thin and take off colour Talismans/Myrs when you really want something else. Grade: C+ (much higher in Sunburst, good luck making it work)
Condescend Conventional wisdom dictates that counterspells in Limited are generally poor, but this is a fine card, countering early threats early and expensive bombs late. The new Power Sink also lets you peek into your own deck, often dealing a psychological blow on your opponent in addition to returning what they thought was an unreturnable winner. Lovely name for a spell too - I'm sure it's going to be certain people's favourite (no names mentioned). Grade: B+
Disruption Aura Ha, artifact destruction in blue? Although clearly no Shatter, it can work. Put it on their newly cast Crystal Shard and look at their faces. However, it is of little use against smaller artifacts and is much less potent late game when they may as well pay the mana anyway. Playable, but it looks more like Inertia Bubble than Psychic Overload. Grade: B
Early Frost Choking Tethers, without the flexibility to cycle. The use of this spell ranges from a near Time Walk on turn three to near useless late game. Overall, it provides, at best, nuisance value for a turn or two. Grade: D+
Eyes of the Watcher While scrying will sometimes help you out of which might be a sticky situation, how many instants and sorceries are you going to play? Do you really want to waste a turn casting this enchantment? If it was whenever anyone plays an instant or sorcery then I might consider it. Others may disagree but I'm going to say that this is suboptimal. Grade: C
Fold into Aether A hard counter for 4 mana is bad. A hard counter for 4 and a drawback is very bad. The only use you will get out of Fold into Aether is countering your own spell and playing a creature costing six or more, effectively losing you two spells for one in the process. And even then it's so situational that in practice it should never happen. This is a zillion times worse than Vex. Grade: F
Hoverguard Sweepers Akroma was eight mana to cast, so what? She was a first pick anyway. The high casting cost is slightly more discouraging in a fast environment like Mirrodin Block. This is a try-scoring machine that not even Shrapnel Blast is going to remove. And in the process, when he comes into play, he bounces two of your opponent's men! For the size and the effect, not bad. Is it worth playing an eight casting cost spell? Yes, but it's debatable if it's a no-brainer first pick. I'd probably take Qumulox over it. This one is definitely in the Clockwork Dragon class. Grade: A
Into Thin Air On balance, in most situations this is effectively a Regress that only works on artifacts. Probably sideboardable against a deck heavy in artifacts but its flexibility is not enough for it to see main deck play, and also not good early game. Grade: C-
Plasma Elemental The ultimate in evasion, Plasma Elemental is this set's Covert Operative, which was probably on the borderline of playability - I always felt how expensive it was. While Plasma Elemental is a reasonable clock, it is vulnerable to too many ping effects. And remember, a 4/4 flyer for six would not necessarily be a first pick. Plasma Elemental can't block flyers and at that kind of cost ratio won't see play unless you're desperately short on evasion. Grade: C-
Qumulox Qumulox is a big and extremely strong flyer, and ruthlessly effective. In a blue deck which is often signified by being laden with artifacts, he costs four to five at most. I've never seen that kind of efficiency before in a five-power flyer. A guy not exactly easy to tackle (he runs over just about every non-rare flyer in the set), your opponent will probably have to resort to card disadvantage to deal with him before he overwhelms you with try-scoring. I think he deserves to captain the Waratahs this year. Grade: A+
Serum Visions A card which is definitely playable in any blue deck as it allows you thin out your deck and in addition, peek into your library to get a better chance of drawing a helpful card next up. You may be able to get this card around a second time if blue isn't heavily drafted. Grade: B
Spectral Shift Not good. This expensive Mind Bend with entwine is highly situational and is only of any benefit under the most fortuitous circumstances. Most of the time it's unplayable full stop. No-one should even think about main-decking it in a draft deck, ever. Grade: F
Thought Courier Lumengrid Augur was 2/2 for four, a very good card but he was a rare. The Looter is a Common, meaning you are likely to get him in multiples and I have seen cases of players drawing two cards a turn. Late game he is invaluable, pitching out your then-useless lands and bringing you ever closer to that game-winner. Probably the best common in this colour for the set. Grade: A
Trinket Mage While Trinket Mage may at first glace seem to be an unimpressive Grey Ogre, he's much more than that. He fetches artifacts, which might be a Spellbomb (enabling you to draw a card), an equipment or perhaps even Engineered Explosives. It goes best into a traditional blue Affinity build with lots of artifacts. At the very least you could even fetch an artifact land! Grade: B+
Vedalken Mastermind This is one of the best guys in the set; while he may not have a huge body, he effectively allows one guy on your team to block an unlimited number of times and also negates any removal spells your opponent may cast on your bomb. Use the ability judiciously and he may be a game winner. A very high pick. Grade: A Overall, I think blue is a good colour in Fifth Dawn. While some of the spells are unplayable, most of the creatures are fairly good with some interesting abilities. One thing to note when drafting in blue is that there seems to be a lack of good medium-sized guys in this set and you will have to draft your creatures in Darksteel and take things like Neurok Prodigy and Spire Golem. Good luck in your drafting - unless you play me of course. Cameron |
