Prophecy - a Complete Review (blue)
28. Alexi, Zephyr Mage, 3UU, Creature - Spellshaper Legend 3/3, Rare XU, T, Discard two cards from hand: Return X target creatures to their owners' hands. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 5
It's too slow to be any good, but I just love returning things to my opponent's hand at the end of their turn. It would be fun in a red-blue land destruction-bounce deck. Stone Rain is a given, as is Avalanche Riders, which happen to be fun to return to your own hand if you have spare mana when you use Alexi. Rishadan Cutpurse and the like add some more fun as well if your opponent keeps having to tap out because of the land destruction and recasting of creatures. A few Waterfront Bouncers and Power Sinks round it out. It's not the best of decks, but it's certainly a fun one. 29. Alexi's Cloak, 1U, Enchant Creature, Common You may play Alexi's Cloak any time you could play an instant. Enchanted creature can't be targeted of spells or abilities. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
A Mystic Veil that stays around even if you cast it as an instant. That's not as good as it sounds if you keep in mind that if you use it as a pseudo-counter against Rancor or the like, you give your opponent an untargettable creature. 30. Avatar of Will, 6UU, Creature - Avatar 5/6, Rare Flying If an opponent has no cards in hard, Avatar of Will costs 6 less to play. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 5
Most of the avatars trigger only if something bad is happening to you, but your opponent having no cards in hand seems like a lofty goal in itself. The deck pretty much builds itself. 4 Avatar of Will, an assortment of Counterspells, black splashed for 4 Stupors, Duress and/or Ravenous Rats and Vampiric Tutors to taste. Even if your opponent is on to you, they're going to have a very hard time to keep something in their hand at all times. 31. Coastal Hornclaw, 4U, Creature - Beast 3/3, Common Sacrifice a land: Coastal Hornclaw gains flying until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
Would you prefer a 3/3 that you can give flying for 5 mana or a 4/4 that already has flying? And it's not as if Air Elemental is such a great card. 32. Denying Wind, 7UU, Sorcery, Rare Search for up to seven cards from target player's library and remove these from game. Shuffle that library. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 5
Anybody who has played Jester's Cap knows how devastating this effect can be to an opponent. This kills combo decks and seriously weakens control. Even a beatdown deck will be seriously inconvenienced by it. The problem is the casting cost. It's costed about right for such a powerful effect, but how are you going to get to 9 mana? Only a control deck can do that reliably, but tapping out to cast this doesn't seem very smart. By the time you can safely cast this, you could have won with a Palinchron or Morphling. 33. Excavation, 1U, Enchantment, Uncommon 1, Sacrifice a land: Draw a card. Any player may use this ability. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
Blue is usually the colour that likes to keep its lands. Giving your opponent the same ability isn't the greatest idea either, unless you're playing some form of mana-denial deck. Even then, there have to be better ways to draw cards. 34. Foil, 2UU, Instant, Uncommon You may discard an island and another card from your hand instead of paying Foil's mana cost. Counter target spell. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 4
A confusing name for a card. It invites bad puns, but I'll give the good example and stop myself from making them. The card disadvantage could turn out to be too great for this to see use, but as long as there are decks around that roll over and die if one of their key spells gets countered, people will play with alternate casting cost counterspells. 35. Gulf Squid, 3U, Creature - Beast 2/2, Common When Gulf Squid comes into play, tap all lands target player controls. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
It's a must counter card for permission decks, but you can't play it at the end of your opponent's turn, so Turnabout is usually better. Other than that I don't see much use for it in serious decks. It has good synergy with some of the Rhystic cards, so a deck based on that could be interesting. 36. Hazy Homunculus, 1U, Creature - Shadown 1/1, Common Hazy Homunculus is unblockable as long as defending player controls an untapped land. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
Strictly worse than Metathran Soldier. You'll rarely care about making a 1/1 unblockable anyway. 37. Heightened Awareness, 3UU, Enchantment, Rare As Heightened Awareness comes into play, discard your hand. At the beginning of your draw phase, draw a card. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Personal Howling Mines are always nice, but blue has better ways to draw cards, like Stroke of Genius. Tapping five mana during your own turn and discarding your hand are both too high a cost for control decks. More aggressive blue decks could try to use this, but by the time they can cast this it's probably too late for it to give much advantage. 38. Mana Vapors, 1U, Sorcery, Uncommon Lands target player controls don't untap during that his or her next untap step. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
With Exhaustion, Turnabout and other such cards, you can keep someone in a lock for quite a while with this. Add Howling Mines to keep the lock going and a few Counterspells and Power Sinks to seal it up. It'll probably take too long to set up, but it's worth a try. On its own, this could still be a useful anti-permission card. 39. Overburden, 1U, Enchantment, Rare Whenever any player puts a creature card into play, that player returns a land he or she controls to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
Tournement decks either don't have enough creatures for this to matter or won't be slowed down enough by this for it to matter much, because their creatures are so cheap. If I get my hands on one of these, it's going straight into my Mana Breach/Desolation/Fade Away deck. That deck hasn't actually won me a single game yet, but I just play it to see the pained look on my opponent's face when they realize that a Mana Breach out means that they'll never be able to empty their hands the normal way anymore. 40. Psychic Theft, 1U, Sorcery, Rare Look at target player's hand, chooce an instant or sorcery card from it, and remove that card from the game. You may play the card as though it was in your hand as long as it is removed from the game. At the end of turn, if you haven't played the card, return it to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
It's a sideboard card at best and only against a very limited set of decks. They have to play key instants or sorceries that happen to be in a colour you are using as well. Of course it's fun to use someone's Might of Oaks or Stroke of Genius against them. Still, this card would be a lot more interesting if it were an instant. "Well, I'm out of Counterspells, can I borrow one of yours?" 41. Quicksilver Wall, 2U, Creature - Wall 1/6, Uncommon 4: Return Quicksilver Wall to owner's hand. Any player may play this ability. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 3
For 3 mana, I'd expect more than a wall I can't count on to stay around during opponent's turn. 42. Rethink, 2U, Instant, Common Counter target spell unless target spell's controller pays X, where X is its converted mana cost. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 2
Only if you're desperate for a splashable counterspell and Miscalculation just won't do. 43. Rhystic Deluge, 2U, Enchantment, Common U: Tap target creature unless target creature's controller pays 1. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
This is similar to War Tax in that it can be a one card lock, but only if you have mana advantage. Without Tolarian Academy, I don't see that happening reliably for a blue deck. Fun with Betrayal. 44. Rhystic Scrying, 2UU, Sorcery, Uncommon Draw three cards. Then, if any player pays 2, discard three cards from your hand. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
If it wasn't a sorcery, I could see this being played, but as it is, I'd rather have Opportunity. 45. Rhystic Study, 2U, Enchantment, Common Whenever an opponent plays a spell, you may draw a card unless that player pays 1. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
This can be either mana disruption or card advantage. The problem is that your opponent determines which one it is. Still, in the right deck, it'll be fun. 46. Ribbon Snake, 1UU, Creature - Snake 2/3, Common Flying 2: Ribbon Snake loses flying until end of turn. Any player may play this ability. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 3
This card is costed similar to Metathran Elite, a 2/3 for 1UU with potential evasion. The problem with the elite was that it required a creature enchantment to work. This one works without the need for an extra card. It requires a tight deck that can put a bit of pressure on the opponent, to make the mana cost significant. In limited this will be no more than a 2/3 vanilla creature. 47. Shrouded Serpent, 4UUU, Creature - Serpent 4/4, Rare Whenever Shrouded Serpent attacks, defending player may pay 4. If he or she doesn't, Shrouded Serpent is unblockable this turn. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
As big creatures go, this is a bit pathetic, even for blue. At seven mana for a 4/4 you'd expect a bit more than a creature that _might_ be unblockable. Compare this to Palinchron and weep. 48. Spiketail Drake, 3UU, Creature - Drake 3/3, Uncommon Flying Sacrifice Spiketail Drake: Counter target spell unless its controller pays 3. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
The mechanic is interesting, but your opponent can play around it and will usually not mind too much losing a good spell to get rid of a 3/3 flyer. The ability is useless as protection against removal as well, countering the removal will cost you the Drake anyway. 49. Spiketail Hatchling, 1U, Creature - Drake 1/1, Common Flying Sacrifice Spiketail Hatchling: Counter that spell unless target spell's controller pays 1. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 3
This is better because it fits in a blue weenie deck. It can buy you some extra time by stopping your opponent's Treachery or Wrath of God until they draw an extra land. Meanwhile it doesn't sit in your hand doing nothing. Instead, it beats down for one per turn. 50. Stormwatch Eagle, 3U, Creature - Bird 2/1, Common Flying Sacrifice a land: Put Stormwatch Eagle from play to owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
Another Blinking Spirit that isn't one. At least it flies, but 4 mana is really too much for a 2/1. Fleeting Image is better. 51. Sunken Field, 1U, Enchant Land, Uncommon Enchanted land gets "T: Counter target spell unless target spell's controller pays 1." ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
It looks like a reusable Force Spike, but without the surprise element, it's better to compare it to a Sphere of Resistance. If you keep this open, you force your opponent to keep one land open at all times. This makes spells like Armageddon and such harder to cast. The question remains whether it's worth tapping out early and taking the risk of an early game threat hitting the board. It depends on the deck, I guess. Maybe a deck that wants to empty its hand for some reason could use this. 52. Troublesome Spirit, 2UU, Creature - Spirit 3/4, Rare Flying At the end of your turn, tap all lands you control. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 2
I don't think I have to mention how much blue decks hate having to tap out during their turn. I suppose it's not as bad with all the alternate casting cost counterspells in the environment, but if you keep in mind that one more mana gets you a Morphling, which is a lot more useful, I doubt this will see play. 53. Windscouter, 3U, Creature - Boat 3/3, Uncommon Flying When Windscouter attacks or blocks, return it to its owner's hand at end of combat. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
A boat, yet it doesn't even have islandhome? And it flies? That doesn't sound right. It has the same problems Troublesome Spirit has. It's too vanilla to see play and continually having to recast it ties up your mana just as badly as Troublesome Spirit does. It'll only work in decks that want to recast their creatures all the time, for Pandemonium or Soul Warden or something. It's not even very good in such a deck, because Palinchron does that better. 54. Withdraw, UU, Instant, Common Return target creature to its owner's hand. Then return another target creature to its owners hand unless its controller pays 1. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
I'm a fan of cards like Unsummon and Boomerang because they tend to be surprisingly useful and annoying to your opponent. The possibility of getting extra use out of this doesn't really measure up against the extra casting cost, though. Still, it has potential in fun decks, most obviously with comes-into-play creatures, so you can make one of your own creatures the second creature. With Scrivener, this becomes a reusable, though expensive, Unsummon.
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