Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Aether Revolt Review: Artifacts

The set has many strong uncommons. That's great.


Aegis Automaton: Great Limited card. You will need this to trigger 'left the battlefield' in White.
Augmented Automaton: Great Limited card. You can pump it with all your unused mana if you go mono-black. This card makes me want to if I pull three or four of these.


Barricade Breaker: If Improvise works out well, this can be quite the bruiser of a card. If it doesn't, well, it's a casual card to play with Juggernaut (which, incidentally, hails from Limited Edition Alpha) and have fun.
Cogwork Assembler: Wow, this is a really good uncommon. 'Target artifact' as in any artifact is really great. That can be Wurmcoil Engine, and if I have the mana laying around anyways, it's a great use of it.


Gonti's Aether Heart: Reads very Mythic, and reads very strong. It can find a home in all formats. Two Energy for every artifact you cast, combined with a way to bring some of those artifacts back to your hand to cast them again can net you a lot of Energy. True, it's a six drop, but artifacts have Affinity enablers, and lands like Mishra's Workshop (Tap: Add CCC to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells.) Six mana on an artifact is not a hindrance with the enablers artifacts have at their disposal in Modern, Legacy, and especially Vintage with the Moxen.
Hope of Ghirapur: Interesting. It will depend on what your opponent is doing. If you know you are going up against a deck that is not creature-centric, this effect is strong. It reads like Grafdigger's Cage in that this is a sideboard card that can be disruptive against the right deck. It's not as strong as Grafdigger's Cage, though, it's only similar in function.


Consulate Turret: Great in Limited. If you are already untapping your artifacts for effects, it can even be in a Constructed deck.
Implement of Examination: Compare to Flight Spellbomb in Scars of Mirrodin (one mana; Tap, Sacrifice Flight Spellbomb: Target creature gains flying until end of turn. When Flight Spellbomb is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay U. If you do, draw a card.). It's costed differently because it does more. I am not sure how to compare it to Flight Spellbomb.


Crackdown Construct: In the right deck, this can be a beater for a few turns. I want to play it to see how good it can be.
Foundry Assembler: Another Assembler. That's great! Now we have three Assemblers in Standard. It reads like a great common.


Filigree Crawler: good in Limited.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary: This is really good. You get to Scry 1 every turn, which is a powerful effect, and because you will be in Green, you will be casting creatures all the time. One G to draw a card? Ridiculous.


Implement of Combustion: Compare with Panic Spellbomb (one mana, Tap, Sacrifice Panic Spellbomb: Target creature can't block this turn. When Panic Spellbomb is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay R. If you do, draw a card.)
Implement of Improvement: Compare with Origin Spellbomb (one mana, Tap, Sacrifice Origin Spellbomb: Create a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token. When Origin Spellbomb is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay W. If you do, draw a card.)


Implement of Ferocity: Compare with Horizon Spellbomb (2, Tap, Sacrifice Horizon Spellbomb: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. When Horizon Spellbomb is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay G. If you do, draw a card.) They are different cards with different effects. They make me want to put them in the same deck.
Inspiring Statuary: A great Johnny rare? I must play it. This could be the card that makes Improvise strong, as in Delve strong, but not quite, because Delve did not need much enabling.


Implement of Malice: Compare with Nihil Spellbomb, which is the best one of the Spellbomb cycle (Tap, Sacrifice Nihil Spellbomb: Exile all cards from target player's graveyard. When Nihil Spellbomb is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay B. If you do, draw a card.)
Night Market Guard: very good in Limited.


Metallic Mimic: this is great. There aren't that many ways to make sure every creature you have has a +1/+1 counter on it. I want to play this, especially in Modern with Hardened Scales.
Merchant's Dockhand: It lets you tutor, but at a heavy cost. I think it's more of a battlecruiser tutor since you will be paying at 4U for the effect.


Pacification Array: A good way to neutralize a big threat. A solid defensive uncommon.
Treasure Keeper: The commons in this set seem unusually strong. This is a wall-of-text uncommon, which is a very rare thing in Magic. Make the range of cards that fulfill the sacrifice effect matter, be in black, and figure a way to recover this and cast it again. I love it.


Paradox Engine: Fantastic untapper. Definitely Mythic. It's one incredible Improvise enabler. Five mana for an artifact outside of Standard is great with Affinity enablers.
Scrap Trawler: There you go, this is the artifact recycler we need. A great rare. It's a shame we can't use it to bring back Treasure Keeper.


Planar Bridge: Very nice. Eight mana for ANY permanent? That's just sick. A great Mythic for the ages.
Ornithopter: Hello, old friend.


Prizefighter Construct: Limited.
Universal Solvent: good in Limited. Great name! It sounds like a product name.


Renegade Map: A fixed version of Expedition Map (2, Tap, Sacrifice Expedition Map: Search your library for a land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.) There is BIG difference between any land and a basic land card.
Servo Schematic: If you have ways of recovering artifacts to recast them, you can generate many more than just one Servo. It does not, however, sacrifice itself, and that means it needs some extra work to get those extra Servos.... well, even the first one.


Reservoir Walker: great in Limited.
Walking Ballista: Let's take it through for X=2. You spent 4 mana, and it enters as a 2/2. That puts it in junk Rare territory with Astral Cornucopia (XXX, Astral Cornucopia enters the battlefield with X charge counters on it. Tap: Choose a color. Add one mana of that color to your mana pool for each charge counter on Astral Cornucopia.) You can abuse this if you cast it for X=1 and add counters to it through some other means.


Verdant Automaton: Good in Limited.
Welder Automaton: Good in Limited, also in multiplayer Two-Headed Giant.


Watchful Automaton: Good in Limited.
Spire of Industry: great artifact flavor, but locks you into an artifact deck for the mana versatility.