I Think I Like Fate Reforged?

The full spoiler for Fate Reforged is up and the new album by Sleater-Kinney is available to listen to. I'm in a better position to talk about the new Magic set though, since I've just started listening to S-K's record. (But, strong opening track!) Magic sets? Well, I've been doing that for awhile.

First, let's overview.

I like Bolster as a mechanic. It seems like a neat way to help balance out board states by providing interesting questions: killing an unblockable creature that results in their smallest dude becoming a legitimate thread creates tension and that's good! Sure, it'll be more of a limited mechanic but I can see value coming in the right constructed decks.

Manifest isn't as interesting to me, though. You have to go in blind and the odds are against you. In Constructed, there are decks-mostly blue ones-that can take advantage of the mechanic by stacking their library but for the most part, it's going to suck. Which is one reason Reality Shift is good.

Dash has some fun potential too; there are plenty of fun things that trigger when creatures enter the battlefield, and the choice between taking those repeated triggers or investing in a longer lasting creature is a good one. I've already got a R/B deck in mind to monkey with once Fate Reforged hits the shelves and I'm looking forward to it.

The returning mechanics are just that; the returning mechanics. We know Prowess and Delve are bonkers and Ferocious is...like a bike with square tires.

However, my overall perspective on this set is positive. Cards with interesting synergies like Wandering Champion or Bloodfire Enforcers, neat activated abilities like that on Brutal Hordechief or Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, a Black Wrath of God effect, the optional ETB cycle (Defiant Ogre, Hooded Assassin, Aven Surveyor, Sandsteppe Outcast, Ainok Guide) as well as the Siege enchantment cycle (although Blue again got the best of those) and even a decent dragon in Green!

Sure, Blue looks like the clear winner here, with Green looking like a solid second but White, Black and Red all seem to have something going on. So far, I'm a fan.

The Sleater-Kinney album needs a few more plays. It isn't bad but I'm not hooked on it, either. Hmm. Maybe I was too distracted while listening to it?

Seriously, Gorram Blue!

Fate Reforged Spoilers have begun!

And goddamnit, they have given Blue a card it had absolutely zero need of: easy, instant speed, creature removal: Reality Shift.

You know, just when the game starts to get more balanced from a color-pie perspective, a block like Khans shows up and throws it all away. Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time are already so format warping that people are calling for them to be banned in Legacy and Modern. Did Blue really need a card that could take care of almost any creature and replace it with something that is a 2/2 nothing? Because the odds are heavily in the Reality Shift player's favor that they will be manifesting a land or spell, not a creature.

So your best creature is now a bear.

That's just ducky.

But wait, 'Blue has had Polymorph for years', you say, 'how is this any different!? Why isn't Curse of the Swine creating an outcry!'

Two ways; first, Curse of the Swine is a Sorcery and second, costs 3, minimum, to work. That is a lot of mana for Blue and arrives at an inconvenient time. Other Polymorph-like effects don't exile, which means that Green (Blue's primary adversary) White and Black can get potential mileage out of those destroyed creatures because they have graveyard interactions.

But instant speed permanent creature removal has never been a strong part of Blue's domain and Reality Shift's printing at uncommon means that they want to make the best color in Magic the best color in Magic.

That kinda sucks.