First up we have Banisher Priest. What a great job they did here. Just a great natural evolution from Oblivion Ring. I remember when they dropped the Ring on us. I was preparing for my first PTQ every (which my buddy top8ed btw). And all I could think was, wow! White now has the best creatures (I'm looking at you Cloudgoat Ranger) and the best removal. I wasn't even thinking about shenanigans where you could bounce the Ring and perma-exile something. The first time that knowledge got dropped on me I was super pissed. Just straight like:
And now I don't have to worry because they fixed it. As far as the shift from 1/3 to 2/2 goes I'm rather indifferent.
Next up we have a couple new guys, both doing the same kinda thing.
These guys are just great design. The tension established with them needing to attack to produce pseudo-evasion is brilliant. I love how magic is moving towards combat as an answer. Especially here where even when you are on the war path and attacking with these dudes, a combat trick here and your opponent can still mess with you. You have to put some skin int he game to get the benefit from these dudes. Just great design.
This next card is one that I had in my pool and didn't run despite playing WU.
In my defense I had a ton of removal all ready. Pacifism, 2x Banisher Priest, 2x Claustrophobia. I think I only played like 14 creatures or so. And this guy just ranked towards the bottom of my removal. I think it's the fact that my opponent gets to make a choice (sometimes). I just don't think this card will do what I want.
Let's talk aesthetics for a moment.
While the art is still a step back from the original and fails to evoke the history from the first Counterspell art, the improvement in the text box is awesome. For a lot of the iconic spells in each color like this one they decided to omit flavor text. And I love it. Back in the day that is how it was on Wrath of God and I love it. When it comes to iconic spells just drop the hammer.
In limited it seems like the third point of toughness is the critical one for this set. Every creature has 2 power, plus there is shock at common.
I want to focus not just on this guy but on all 2/3 for 3 mana. It was brutal against me. This guy comes down early and just shuts down the ground, at least when you're playing White/Blue. I don't know if my read is accurate but it just seems like 2/3 for 3 is a rockstar in this set.
Finally I want to wrap it up with one of my favorites.
We haven't seen this guy since Mirrodin and I for one am glad to see it back. I just love love love Doublestrike. Such an elegant ability. Everyone gets it immediately, and it is super potent. I was rocking a pretty good standard record with a Silverblade Paladin + Giant Growth deck. What I want to focus on here is the decision on how to cost this card.
When judging equipment I like to look at it a few ways. First of, how much is it going to be to play and equip it. If I can't do that in one turn I am way less likely to play the equipment (much like how I demand my creatures effect the board the turn I drop them). In this case you have to pay 5, that is an absolute shit ton of mana. But Doublestrike is pretty saucy. A 3/3 turns into an absolute killing machine. After that I look for a cheap equip cost, and 2 certainly fits the bill.
So will I be happy dropping this on turn 5? Probably, because I can rock it on my four drop which should be at least a 3/3. That guy demands attention. I think this is a solid include in all but the most narrow of limited decks.
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