Review: Blue in Magic 2013

Today we're talking about Blue in Magic 2013! What a surprise!





Arctic Aven feels like a stronger member of the off-color activation cycle than Prized Elephant, but not by much. Lifelink doesn't tie into its flavor in any real way. Perhaps if it was some sort of knight? Archaeomancer and Augur of Bolas are much stronger, flavorwise. I love the idea of an archaeologist who searches for ancient, forgotten spells, and Augurs looking for cards is always good flavor. That also gets the bonus of hinting at Nicol Bolas.

I find it very difficult to wrap my head around Battle of Wits. I enjoy alternate win conditions, and this is one of the strangest - you have to build your deck completely around this, and there isn't much else you can do. I guess fill the deck with tutor effects? This is definitely a design success, because it really makes Johnnies think.

Clone remains one of the best Johnny cards I've ever seen, and I still want to build a deck around it. Divination is a good workhorse card still, and an obvious choice for a reprint. I kind of wish they had used the Dark Ascension art, but this is still good.

I want to talk about Courtly Provocateur, but I'm not sure what to say besides applauding them for finding great flavor for a weird (but great) design.

Jace, Memory Adept is a triumph of design and flavor coming together. His abilities build together in interesting ways, and his ultimate is worded in a clever way so it can be used as a weapon. Jace's Phantasm is another great design, and makes much more sense when put with Jace - just play the phantasm one turn, then Jace the next and use his 0 ability to get a 5/5 flier!

Why hasn't Master of the Pearl Trident been printed before? Every other color has had multiple updated Lords, but only now we're getting the basic implementation of the merfolk lord? And the name is perfect, along with the flavor text and art. Full marks on this one.

Omniscience kind of bugs me. I feel like it should be card draw or revealing hidden knowledge, but instead it lets you cast spells without paying mana costs. A fun design, but the name hampers my enjoyment of it.

Switcheroo is kind of an adorable design, and as such the adorable name and art fit it.

I don't really want to compare the colors to each other too much, but the Legendary creatures and their spells make me feel like I have to. In this case, I feel like Talrand, Sky Summoner and his Invocation are much stronger designs than Odric and his crusader were. While Odric and his crusader required at least one more creature to go off, simply casting Talrand's Invocation while Talrand is in play result in a big bonus, and thus feels more rewarding and connected.

Void Stalker is neat, and I would like to see a deck that can take advantage of it.

Best Design: Jace's Phantasm. It ties in with it's planeswalker so well, and just feels right.
Best Flavor: Master of the Pearl Trident. Everything on this card ties together perfectly, and I can't find any fault with it.
Best Overall: Master of the Pearl Trident. Sometimes the obvious design is the best, particularly when paired with such strong flavor.