Invasion - a Complete Review (blue)
46. Barrin's Unmasking, 1U, Instant, Common Return target permanent to its owner's hand if that permanent shares a color with the most common color among permanents or the color tied for most common. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
The only thing this has over Boomerang is that it's more splashable. You'll never be completely sure you'll be able to use this when you need it and you can't use it at all on artifacts or lands. Using it on lands is one of Boomerang's strengths, because it could kill echo creatures or slow your opponent down for a crucial turns. 47. Blind Seer, 2UU, Creature - Legend 3/3, Rare 1U: Target spell or permanent becomes a color of your choice until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
This is obviously meant to be used with Barrin's Unmasking and similar cards, but it's otherwise too vulnerable as a creature to be very good. With Douse or Lifeforce, it could be used as a lock. Neither of those are in type 2 anymore, though, as far as I know. Even if they were, it's too expensive to keep the lock going. It could be an interesting way to make certain weak color hosers like Decomposition playable, but Distorting Lens did that better, because it was harder to get rid of. 48. Breaking Wave, 2UU, Sorcery, Rare You may play Breaking Wave any time you could play an instant if you pay 2 more to play it. Simultaneously untap all tapped creatures and tap all untapped creatures. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
It can be used to make sure you have blockers after an attack or to reuse pingers and such, but 6 mana for the instant version is a bit much, even if it can come as a nasty surprise if your opponent thinks the way is clear for an all-out attack. A card like Vitalize never made much of a splash in tournaments either and it does almost the same thing for only 1 mana. And this one is rare. 49. Collective Restraint, 3U, Enchantment, Rare Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays X for each creature attacking you, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control. (This cost is paid as attackers are declared.) ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
Ah, a new version of Propaganda. I'd usually prefer to have Propaganda, because it's cheaper and you're guaranteed 2 mana per attacker, but Propaganda was so good, even this could be quite useful. Of course it's not much use for mono blue, but I'm sure it'll fit in a deck or two. Maybe a green one with Clear the Land. 50. Crystal Spray, 2U, Instant, Rare Change the text of target spell or permanent by replacing all instances of one color word or basic land type with another until end of turn. (For example, you may change "nonred creature" to "nongreen creature" or "plainswalk" to "swampwalk.") Draw a card. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 2
Cards like this are usually only useful as a measure against color hosers. You don't want it to cost 2 mana extra in that case, you'd rather have a permanent effect for only one mana. 51. Disrupt, U, Instant, Uncommon Counter target instant or sorcery spell unless its controller pays 1. Draw a card. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 1
Another reprint. How useful it is depends on the speed of the environment and how many sorceries and instants tend to be used. I could see it being used in a few sideboards, but in fun play, it'll rarely be useful. Perhaps against a huge X spell (it's so much fun to Disrupt a 30 point drain), but your opponents will quickly learn to keep one mana open after the first mistake. 52. Distorting Wake, XUUU, Sorcery, Rare Return X target nonland permanents to their owners' hands. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
An interesting way to clear your opponent's side of the board, especially if you return a few Avalanche Riders to your hand at the same time, but I think the mana cost will turn out to be prohibitive in tournaments. 53. Dream Thrush, 1U, Creature - Bird 1/1, Common Flying T: Target land becomes a land of the basic land type of your choice until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Tidal Warrior was nice because of its synergy with Lord of Atlantis. Dream Thrush lacks that synergy, because it's not a merfolk. Still, changing land types is bound to be useful in some deck or other. In fun play it's a good way to make landwalker decks more viable. 54. Empress Galina, 3UU, Creature - Legend 1/3, Rare UU, T: Gain control of target Legend or legendary permanent. (This ability's effect doesn't end at end of turn.) ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
This would be very useful against popular legendary permanents, but i haven't seen many of those lately and Gaea's Cradle is going to rotate out. Still, if the mana cost had been more reasonable, I'm sure it would have seen sideboard play. Five mana for a 1/3 just isn't good enough. 55. Essence Leak, U, Enchant Permanent, Uncommon If enchanted permanent is red or green, it has "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this permanent unless you pay its mana cost." ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
If a non-black deck casts something, they should have enough mana to pay this upkeep indefinitely. Sure, that'll stop them from casting other things for a while, but they won't need anything else if the permanent you cast this on is killing you. I still prefer Mana Chains. It killed a creature slowly, but surely. 56. Exclude, 2U, Instant, Common Counter target creature spell. Draw a card. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
Remove Soul wasn't very good, but a cantrip version for one more mana is more like it. As long as creatureless decks don't come back in style, this will always be useful. 57. Fact of Fiction, 3U, Instant, Uncommon Reveal the top five cards of your library. An opponent separates those cards into two face-up piles. Put one pile into your hand and the other into your graveyard. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
It's hard to say how good this will be without testing it. You can get at least 3 cards for 4 mana, which is quite good, or you can get the best card of the five if there is one you really want. Definitely an interesting card that'll create more interaction between players, as well as rewarding players for understanding their opponent's deck. 58. Faerie Squadron, U, Creature - Faerie 1/1, Common Kicker 3U (You may pay an additional 3U as you play this spell.) If you paid the kicker cost, Faerie Squadron comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it and has flying. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
This is a solution to the problem I often have when I'm sitting with big creatures in my hand while a 2/2 is beating me down and I'm waiting for mana. Or I get a lot of mana but only small creatures. This creature gives you the option. It's too bad neither of the options is very good. A 1/1 for 1 mana is too vanilla and a 3/3 flier for 5 mana is worse than Air Elemental. A nice idea, but the execution leaves something to be desired. 59. Mana Maze, 1U, Enchantment, Rare Players can't play spells that share a color with the spell last played this turn. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
Perhaps it'll work as a hoser against some engine deck, but otherwise it's pretty useless. It can slow your opponent to one spell a turn if they're only playing one color, but you're affected by it as well. It's an unreliable version of Arcane Laboratory. 60. Manipulate Fate, 1U, Sorcery, Uncommon Search your library for three cards, remove them from the game, then shuffle your library. Draw a card. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
A reprint of Foresight, but made into a true cantrip. Foresight wasn't very popular, but I liked it. It's too subtle for tournament play, because you'll want to cast business cards instead of cantrips with a tiny bit of use, but I'm just going to have to play a deck with Foresights and Manipulate Fate as well as a few other cantrips like Clairvoyance to see how fast I can get my deck down to exactly the cards I need against the deck I'm playing against. 61. Metathran Aerostat, 2UU, Creature - Ship 2/2, Rare Flying XU: You may put a creature card with converted mana cost X from your hand into play. If you do, return Metathran Aerostat to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
A permanent with a Flash effect. Too bad the only good things about Flash were the surprise and being able to keep your mana open until the end of your opponent's turn. This doesn't do either. 62. Metathran Transport, 1UU, Creature - Ship 1/3, Uncommon Flying Metathran Transport can't be blocked by blue creatures. U: Target creature becomes blue until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 4
A reprint of Fylamarid. I thought they'd learned not to print the same creature under a different name already. That may be a sign that the spoilers are fake. I sure hope not. The ability is interesting, but on a flyer, it's not very useful. A fun deck could be made with these and Pyroblast and other anti-blue permanents cards, but it wouldn't be very strong. 63. Metathran Zombie, 1U, Creature - Zombie 1/1, Common B: Regenerate Metathran Zombie. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 2
A reprint of The Drowned and most of the time worse than Drudge Skeletons. 64. Opt, U, Instant, Common Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library. Draw a card. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
A mini version of Impulse. A useful common, but it doesn't do enough to be good. A nice card for a blue all-cantrip deck, though. 65. Phantasmal Terrain, UU, Enchant Land, Common As Phantasmal Terrain comes into play, choose a basic land type. Enchanted land is a basic land of the chosen type. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
Yet another reprint. Either Wizards of the Coast are running out of ideas or the spoiler is fake. Phantasmal Terrain never was all that great, but now that there are better ways of changing land-types, it's even worse. 66. Probe, 2U, Sorcery, Common Kicker 1B (You may pay an additional 1B as you play this spell.) Draw three cards, then discard two cards from your hand. If you paid the kicker cost, target player discards two cards from his or her hand. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 5
It's only good in blue-black decks, but it is very good in those. For 5 mana, you get to draw 1 card, exchange a few bad cards in your hand for new ones and disrupt your opponent's hand quite badly. And if your opponent doesn't have a hand, you can always cast it for 3 mana. Four of these, along with Lobotomies, Duresses and Counterspells could make an interesting control deck. 67. Prohibit, 1U, Instant, Common Kicker 2 (You may pay an additional 2 as you play this spell.) Counter target spell if its converted mana cost is 2 or less. If you paid the kicker cost, counter that spell if its converted mana cost is 4 or less instead. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 2
Mana Leak was a good way to counter big spells that your opponent had to tap out for or smaller spells early in the game. Prohibit only counters small stuff. Sure, it can counter Armageddons, but you'll have to pay 4 mana instead of 2. 68. Psychic Battle, 3UU, Enchantment, Rare Whenever a player chooses one or more targets, each player reveals the top card of his or her library. The player who reveals the card with the highest converted mana cost may change the target or targets. If two or more cards are tied for highest cost, the target or targets remain unchanged. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 5
It's a bit expensive for tournament decks, but it makes any targeted spells almost unplayable. Almost half the time, instead of hurting your opponent, they'll hurt you. This card even has a built-in protection from Disenchants, because those can get redirected as well. This card is lots of fun, especially in multiplayer. 69. Rainbow Crow, 3U, Creature - Bird 2/2, Uncommon Flying 1: Rainbow Crow becomes the color of your choice until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 2
I guess it can protect itself against some of the black removal, but it's mostly just an expensive flyer in a color that's used to having cheap ones. 70. Repulse, 2U, Instant, Common Return target creature to its owner's hand. Draw a card. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
At 3 mana, this is hard to use as a surprise way to get rid of Rancors and the like. It still works against normal creature enchantments, but they aren't very popular to begin with. 71. Sapphire Leech, 1, Creature - Leech 2/2, Rare Flying Blue spells you play cost U more to play. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 3
I assume the casting cost is meant to be U. if it was just 1, it probably would have mentioned something about being a blue spell instead of an artifact. Of course it could be that the casting cost is 1U, in which case the card becomes a lot worse. At U, though, it's a pretty good beatdown creature for a deck that splashes blue. 72. Shimmering Wings, U, Enchant Creature, Common Enchanted creature has flying. U: Return Shimmering Wings to its owner's hand. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
Yet another reprint if I'm not mistaking. Why are there more blue reprints than white ones anyway? I fear the worst. I guess the set wouldn't be complete without an utterly useless flight enchantment. 73. Shoreline Raider, 2U, Creature - Merfolk 2/2, Common Protection from Kavu ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
It's hard to rate this card, because I have no idea what Kavu are and how common they will be. I assume they're a red and/or green creature type. If they're any good, this could become a good sideboard card. If they aren't, this is just a bad vanilla creature. 74. Sky Weaver, 1U, Creature - Wizard 2/1, Uncommon 2: Target white or black creature gains flying until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
This is more useful than the white one that gave +0/+1, because it's an aggressive creature and flying is more useful on the attack. 75. Stormscape Apprentice, U, Creature - Wizard 1/1, Common W, T: Tap target creature. B, T: Target player loses 1 life. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
The new Shaper Guildmage. First Strike was more useful in combat, but tapping a creature is good for control decks. It's a kind of Pacifism with an upkeep of W and the option of putting it on another creature. Pinging players can be useful as well, especially because it's loss of life, instead of damage. This'll be quite a useful creature. Especially for only 1 mana. 76. Stormscape Master, 2UU, Creature - Wizard 2/2, Rare WW, T: Target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. BB, T: Target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 4
At 4 mana to cast and 2 to use, it's no Mother of Runes. The extra +1/+1 doesn't make up for that. The reusable Brush with Death is nice, but the create is too vulnerable to rely on it. if you use it once, it'll probably get shocked, because it can't protect itself anymore. 77. Sway of Illusion, 1U, Instant, Uncommon Any number of target creatures become the color of your choice until end of turn. Draw a card. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 3
If it was a green card, I could see it get used against Perish, but as it is it's strictly a combo card. It helps that it's a cantrip so it won't cost you a card to make your creatures with protection from a color useful. 78. Teferi's Response, 1U, Instant, Rare Counter target spell or ability an opponent controls that targets a land you control. If a permanent's ability is countered this way, destroy that permanent. Draw two cards. ==> TOUR: 5 - FUN: 3
Rishadan Port is dead. With this card in every blue sideboard, land destruction decks aren't going to be very happy either. 79. Temporal Distortion, 3UU, Enchantment, Rare Whenever a creature or land becomes tapped, put an hourglass counter on it. Permanents with an hourglass counter on them don't untap during their controllers' untap steps. At the beginning of each player's upkeep, remove all hourglass counters from permanents that player controls. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 3
I think there's a green card that works in a similar way, but maybe only for creatures. It slows your opponent down, but it slows you down just as much. It'd work as a way to stall through the beginning of the game to get a few lands in play, but at 5 mana, by the time you can cast it, it's no longer the beginning of the game. 80. Tidal Visionary, U, Creature - Wizard 1/1, Common T: Target creature becomes the color of your choice until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 5
Eh, didn't we do this one already? Blind Seer has a similar ability for all permanents. I don't see much use for this card, except as a cheap version of Distorting Lens, cheap in the sense that this is a common and not too expensive to get 4 of, which means there are all kinds of possibilities for fun decks. 81. Tolarian Emissary, 2U, Creature - Wizard 1/2, Uncommon Kicker 1W (You may pay an additional 1W as you play this spell.) Flying When Tolarian Emissary comes into play, if you paid the kicker cost, destroy target enchantment. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 2
Three mana is too much for a 1/2 flyer, so this will only get used if the kicker ability is useful, in which case it's a Monk Realist that costs 5 mana instead of 2. 82. Tower Drake, 2U, Creature - Drake 2/1, Common Flying W: Tower Drake gets +0/+1 until end of turn. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
Three mana for a 2/1 flyer is better, but still not that good for blue. The ability is ok, but not very threatening. 83. Traveler's Cloak, 2U, Enchant Creature, Common As Traveler's Cloak comes into play, choose a land type. Enchanted creature has landwalk of the chosen type. (It's unblockable as long as defending player controls a land of that type.) When Traveler's Cloak comes into play, draw a card. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 2
This is pretty much the same thing as "Enchanted creature becomes unblockable" It's just a cantrip now. 84. Vodalian Hypnotist, 1U, Creature - Wizard 1/1, Uncommon 2B, T: Target player discards a card from his or her hand. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery. ==> TOUR: 2 - FUN: 1
Zuran Enchanter. Reusable discard is good, but too slow and a 1/1 is pretty vulnerable. 85. Vodalian Merchant, 1U, Creature - Merfolk 1/2, Common When Vodalian Merchant comes into play, draw a card, then discard a card from your hand. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 3
Merfolk Traders. I'm getting very suspicious now. 86. Vodalian Serpent, 3U, Creature - Serpent 2/2, Common Kicker 2 (You may pay an additional 2 as you play this spell.) Vodalian Serpent can't attack unless defending player controls an island. If you paid the kicker cost, Vodalian Serpent comes into play with four +1/+1 counters on it. ==> TOUR: 1 - FUN: 1
Four mana for a 2/2 that can't even attack half the time or 6 mana for a 6/6 with the same problem. Neither of those is any good. 87. Wash Out, 3U, Sorcery, Uncommon Return all permanents of the color of your choice to their owners' hands. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
A useful sideboard card to slow down weenie decks. It suffers from not being an instant, but the disruption it can cause makes up for that. 88. Well-Laid Plans, 2U, Enchantment, Rare Prevent all damage that would be dealt to a creature by another creature if they share a color. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
Another card that makes Sliver Queen even better. I guess this makes those color-changers more useful. Too bad it's rare. 89. Worldly Counsel, 1U, Instant, Common Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library. ==> TOUR: 3 - FUN: 4
An interesting twist on Impulse. It's not nearly as good, though, because it requires you to play with a lot of different basic lands and you probably won't want to cast one in the early game. 90. Zanam Djinn, 5U, Creature - Djinn 5/6, Uncommon Flying Zanam Djinn gets -2/-2 as long as blue is the most common color among permanents or is tied for most common. ==> TOUR: 4 - FUN: 4
I'm sure this will see play as a blue splash. Flying gets it over any big walls your opponent might have, but most of the time, a 5/5 with first strike is equal to a 5/6 flyer, because neither one is likely to get blocked and have the blockers live.
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