No Reservations II, pt. 13a Tempest block

{Let's see, I've had spleen before, but I'm a little scared to try kidney, because of the whole urine thing.}

Aluren 223

Price




Now, hear me out. Aluren would have to have a Standard built around it, in the sets before, during, and after its reprinting, but it can be done. You'd need to maintain the power level of creatures with cmc ≤ 3 such that individually, they're nothing special, but when taken together, their synergy can make them a Tier 3-Tier 1.5 (at best) deck. Plus, the fact that all players get the benefit help mitigate a lot of the potential brokenness. Thanks to sets like Dominaria and Modern Horizons, and their pushing of the power level of commons and uncommons, I'm much more willing to test out these potentially broken cards in Standard, whereas normally, I'd be recommending Aluren for a Modern-specific supplemental set.

{When they finally killed off Darkseid for good (or so I thought) in Final Crisis, I was immensely happy, even if I couldn't understand about 15-25% of what the hell was going on, because characters like that are just so stupidly boring, especially since we now have one of our very own in the White House. "Hurr durr, I wanna conquer and enslave errthing!" *Aggressive yawn*¹}

Apocalypse 149

Price




MaRo Lesson #27: The best way to show that something can't do something is to not have it do that thing, NOT do that thing badly/inefficiently! Enchantments are supposed to be 's biggest weakness. "If it's a physical thing, I can burninate it just fine. Not a physical thing? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Apocalypse is obviously powerful, but it's still a Color Pie-breaking mistake that should never have been printed.

{BIRDGIRL, GET IN HERE!}

Avenging Angel 224, downgraded from to , to match Tempest Remastered.

Price




Does anything more really need to be said?

{"I'M A RAGEAHOLIC! I JUST CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT RAGEAHOL!"²}

Commander Greven il-Vec 68

Price




There's a rule I follow (or at least try to) about Standard vs. supplemental reprints. If it's dead or no longer in existence, then it can't get a Standard reprint. Commander Greven il-Vec was one of the earliest attempts at pure, top-down, story-driven card design, and it kinda shows. Still, he's an important part of Magic's first successful attempt at a longform story arc, and every designer can benefit from reviewing their early work, even if it's just to see how far they've come/how much they've improved.

{"Indoctrination (A Design for Living)"}

Corpse Dance 69

Price




Another rule for the Standard vs supplemental decision is that if it cares about graveyard order, it can't be reprinted in Standard. I'm a little worried for Corpse Dance about all of the same shenannygoats that Goryo's Vengeance gets up to, but if things break, we can always reban, like what they did with Golgari Grave-Troll.

{They really should've had the ability start with "If you have three or more cards in hand, choose a card name, then reveal a card at random from your hand."}

Cursed Scroll 61

Price




Colorless sources of damage get around protection, and circumvent the necessary weaknesses of the other colors. So why is Aeolipile ok, when Cursed Scroll isn't? Because Aeolipile is one-shot, whereas Cursed Scroll is only ever going to be activated when you have one card in hand, making it a guaranteed, repeatable source of 2 damage, and that's a no-no.

{@moxreuby, this one's for you.}

Earthcraft 225

Price




Ok, I'mma level with you. While I have no idea why they originally Listed Spacecraft, I know exactly why they've kept it there. But let's be honest, here; there's MUCH more broken things (lol, banhammered!) that can be done than overwhelming your opponent with a sea of cuteness. #JusticeForAircraft

{Oh, he ded.}

Eladamri, Lord of Leaves 70

Price




Yup, D E D, ded. However, he can be a very powerful addition to any Elf deck, so long as you aren't facing another Elf deck, where his outdated, outmoded wording granting the abilities to all Elves makes him a liability³.

{I don't know what those are, but dammit I wish Wizards would make a card of them, already!}

Escaped Shapeshifter 226, downgraded from to , because a 3/4 for that only keys off of what you're opponent(s)' doing isn't all that special, especiall when compared to the rest of its line.

Price




Escaped Shapeshifter is the progenitor of a long and illustrious line. At this point, it's practically a design archetype, so it's got that going for it. However, the O.G. is the weakest of the bunch, as is often the case with evolution. 5-mana 3/4s that do nothing on their own are no longer going to cut it, and I highly doubt that they ever did.

{Separately, they're interesting cards. But together, they're the textbook rules nightmare.}

Humility 227, upgraded from to , to match Tempest Remastered; and for Gods' sakes, don't make the mistake of reprinting it in the same Standard as Opalescence again!

Price




On its own, Humility is a nice little bit of creature control⁴, just like the other provided examples. It only becomes one of the biggest Judge headaches in the game when you pair it with Opalescence, a card which, SPOILER ALERT!, I will be recommending for a Standard reprint, just not in the same Standard as Humility. Either I could reprint only one of them, and agonize over which one, or I could just reprint them both, while also avoiding WotC's original mistake.

{Let this be a lesson to you all: if you have a specific use in mind for your card, MAKE SURE TO LIMIT THAT CARD TO THAT SPECIFIC USE IN THE RULES TEXT!}

Intuition 62

Price




LEARN FROM MaRo'S MISTAKE! I have been on the business end of Gifts/Rites (aka FRites, for French Rites), I have seen the overpowered shenannygoats enabled by Intuition, and y'all Spikey munchkins got enough toys, you don't need this one, and we definitely don't need you having access to it!

{Ok, by this point, we should all know the Chronosavant/Chronomantic Escape combo.}

Meditate 228, downgraded from to , just to see what happens. My guess is that it will still be avoided, unless they make the mistake of packing that Standard with extra turn effects.

Price




Did Meditate even do anything when it was in Standard? *Checks teh intarwhebs* Hmmm. Of course Zvi Mowshowitz broke it! Groan! Well, divorced from all that nonsense, it should be fine, even at . You Spikey munchkins're gonna make me eat my words with a side of crow, aren't you?

{Footnotes}