AEtherling

Blast from the past?

After printing Torchling and Thornling as Morphling variants, most would have thought that Wizards of the Coast would attempt to complete the cycle. Instead we are treated to an update on the blue original. It is pretty safe to say that if you manage to untap the turn after casting this guy, you are probably in a good position do win the game. Unless of course you were in dire trouble to begin with.

Ideally you want to play Aetherling with at least one blue mana up. If things go bad, blink him out until the begin of the end of turn. This makes him safe from pretty much all removal, mass-removal and even sacrifice effects. In that respect he is much harder to kill than the original, he kind of feels like this Unglued card:

That’s a lot of text!

Maybe in hundreds of years when piles of old Magic cards are uncovered by future civilizations Greater Morphling will become a tournament legal card. Until that time, we get AEherling. You can obviously do ridiculous things like swing for 8 unblockable damage a turn (of course at the cost of 5 mana). It obviously just gets better when you can boost its toughness otherwise and attack for more. However,  if you are already attacking with it, things are already looking good for you. Expect to see it as a one or two-of in a controllish Esper colored deck. Of course everyone will be busy hunting down foil version for their Commander decks (Bling!).

Surprisingly, it’s not a mythic card. This is indeed great news for those looking to nab a playset of it. Sitting at around 5$ in preorders, it’s a great value from my point of view. It’s going to be on almost everyone’s Want list.

Korozda Gorgon

Got any turtles down there?

I really like the card overall and it’s kind of like a secondary Scavenge lord. It’s far from being Standard playable, but again that has not stopped most people from playing cards. The art is a cute little depiction of a Gorgon’s dwelling/storage space. She’s probably a Level 15 – Hoarder, unless there are collection pieces that are visible only under the sewer water. As with most Gorgon/medusa-like creatures, this one possesses Deathtouch. This probably limits a lot of her relationship possibilities, but I somehow doubt she cares.

In limited formats you will probably be looking to play it with Evolve creatures or as mentionned before, Scavenge. Mess up combat for your opponents and have fun doing it!

Unflinching Courage

Welcome back, Old Friend!

It seems that Wizards of the Coast R&D also missed the original. This time we have it set to uncommon, mostly for limited purposes. You don’t want to be facing a deck that has a near-playset of this card. It also is less potent than the original since it can’t act as a pseudo-pacifism due to the Lifelink keyword versus the old text.

If you are not able to fully construct the modern Auras deck featuring Daybreak Coronet or are simply anticipating a reprint of it in Modern Masters, then by all means try this in your deck. It’s probably not as good but it’s a great way to still play the deck without pumping more money into it.

Blast of Genius

Ral Zarek looking epic

A nice little removal and card filtering spell rolled up in one! Something that’s very playable in Commander as it gets you great value.

The art is simply superb! Terese Nielsen is probably in everyone’s list of top Magic art talent and this cards illustrates why. You even get a little Niv-Mizzet looking on in the background as Ral Zarek performs his Sailor Moon-esque pose. The lightning effect is just so cool and the whole piece just reminds me of one of the main reasons I got into this game.

The big downside to Blast of Genius,aside from mana cost, is that you need to choose the target prior to getting to know what you will draw. Your big blast might end up being a simple poke, unless you already had a big converted mana cost in hand already.

Dragonshift

Death from above

Rather ordinary without the Overload, but can be a situational ‘finisher/removal’ when need be. Works great in a tokens/creature swarm deck, but of course the colors and the cost are not ideal. It is almost 100% a casual card, but boy what a casual card it is! I will for sure be inserting it in my UR Pingers deck for when I actually have to do something the deck never has to do: Attack!

Wrap up…

There are definitely a lot of loose ends to cover (especially cards spoiled with no actual art). I hate to post cards without finalized artwork personally as it’s usually something I like to comment on and it just overall looks less official, so I apologize if there are some cards I have not yet covered. Rest assured that they will be viewed and reviewed here!