Dragons of Tarkir

You can check out the spoiler list at the usual spot.

I wasn't all that happy with Khans, especially the use of the morph mechanic but I have to say, between Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir, some of my faith has been restored. The Rebound mechanic coming back means there are some more cards to interact with the "heroic" cards of Theros. Some really fantastic Megamorph cards-Stratus Dancer seems especially cool but the whole cycle looks good- and a real attempt to beef up the dragon tribe. Hell, the run of morph through Khans almost harkens back to the old days when a single mechanic would get hammered on for the entire block, and that makes for some interesting and potentially powerful interactions.

So I dig on most of it! I'm pleased that Dash and Bolster are making the return from Fate Reforged and the Exploit mechanic has an appropriately Black feel, Blue is getting a 'fixed' Brainstorm with Anticipate that I expect to go a whole three years before being banned and Red is getting bent in interesting directions-Commune With Lava being a great example of something Red can do that helps it stand out from other colors.

And then there's Formidable, the ability that's a spin off of Ferocious.

Which sucked. And Formidable? That also sucks.

Because, damnit, if I have eight power in creatures on the table, then I don't need these abilities that, at least so far, don't actually win the game for me. I've already got enough creature swinging nastiness that I should be in fine shape. This may be reasonable in limited but my experience with limited is, again, if I have enough muscle on the battlefield to do eight points of damage, giving another creature eight power, or haste, really isn't helping. Stampeding Elk Herd seems to be the best one, since it a) heavily contributes to having eight power on the table and b) then functions as an Overrun-ish effect. Giving creatures trample doesn't suck--even if you only do it once.

I guess I'm tired of green getting these clearly limited-oriented mechanics that are excessively useless in a constructed format. Although, after the craziness of the G/W decks of the last pro tour, maybe I'm thinking about it all wrong! Perhaps that will be a deck to build (or modify), when Dragons of Tarkir comes out.