Venser, Shaper
Savant
This card is a perfectly playable rare, good but
certainly not great.
Mostly, all you get is a 2/2 for 2UU that can be
played as an instant that
bounces a permanent or spell back to the hand of
its owner. In limited, the
bounce ability will come in handy more often
than in constructed. For
limited, there is nothing wrong with this card
at all, other than the fact
that a card like this would ordinarily not be a
rare. As a rare, Venser is a
card that limited players don’t really need to
learn how to fit in their
decks very often. It is very cool that Venser is
able to bounce a SPELL back
to its owner’s hand. That means that Venser is
more than a bounce spell
turned into a creature that can be played as an
instant, Venser is also a
bit of a counterspell, in the tradition of
Memory Lapse or Remand. Since
Venser is not quite as good as either of these
two spells, but costs twice
as much, the Shaper Savant is unlikely to see
much play in constructed
formats.
CONSTRUCTED: 2.0
CASUAL: 1.5
LIMITED: 3.5
Venser, Shaper
Savant
I'm personally not happy with this card, because
I believe counterspelling decks can get out of
hand and this can counter Wreak Havoc and
Scragnoth, and even a Hellbent Demonfire (but
not Krosan Grip). This is likely the only
counterspell you will ever leave four mana open
for, simply because it's a 2/2 body and you can
play it even without a spell on the stack to
bounce a permanent. The question is: bounce a
permanent, or wait for a nasty spell?
Constructed- 4
Casual-4
Limited- 4
Aethereal
Friday - Venser,
Shaper Savant
A slightly tweaked Mystic Snake. He can't
counter a spell like Mystic Snake, but he just
delays the inevitable. He does have the bounce
ability tacked on, which is the more likely
ability to get played. However, he won't see
play because U/G would rather use the Snake for
the hard counter, and blue control already has
Teferi and Remand which are both way better.
In limited, I'd probably take him if I had a
decent blue base. It gives you a nice tempo
boost.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 2
Limited - 3
David Fanany
Venser, Shaper
Savant
The more I think about Venser, the better he
seems. He's the cheapest Man-o'-War variant
we've had lately and are likely to have any time
soon. Not only is he a Man-o'-War, though, he's
also a Remand - a Remand that hits uncounterable
spells like Scragnoth and Demonfire, and
Obliterate and Urza's Rage (in Extended and
casual play). I'm going to go out on a limb and
predict that he will be played somewhere in
constructed. He's quite potent in limited, too.
Four mana to push your opponent's Plague Sliver
out of play for a turn so you can find a more
permanent answer? Heck, yeah.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Arcane
Venser, Shaper
Savant
Constructed: A remand or boomerang on a flashy
2/2 body will undoubtedly find a home in the
Teferi or Mystical Teachings control deck in
standard and block right now. Unfortunately the
body isn’t that impressive and won’t do much in
the way of attacking of defending making remand
still a better choice as it will draw you a
card. I can see it being abused in a W/U control
deck though, using things like Momentary blink
or the rescue cards from Planar Chaos.
Casual/Multi: I’ve had a few opportunities to
use this around the multiplayer table so far and
it’s been slightly more impressive than I
initially thought. Not impressive enough to
break standard but for multiplayer games helps
handle big threats, gaining you some tempo, or
temporarily dealing with otherwise uncounterable
spells. Casual gamers can also use some more fun
cards like Blood Clock or cloudstone Curio to
make Venser a more repeatable occurrence.
Limited: A pretty solid card for blue in
limited. Musses up combat math by bouncing
blockers or attackers, delays potentially game
breaking spells like Tromp the domains or
Fortify. Still not an impressive 2/2 body, and
you will have to deal with whatever you bounced
eventually, but the tempo bought can win you the
game if timed right. Not a bomb, but still a
worthwhile pick up.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3
The Missing
Linc
Venser, Shaper Savant
I am still mulling over the "return target
spell" part of this card. I guess that
means it acts like a remand and can
effectively temporarily counter a spell.
The bounce factor in this guy has
potential. Blink him around a bit or bounce
him back and forth and you could cause some
havoc. An old artifact I remember used to
allow you to return a card to the owners
hand unless they paid 1. I build some cool
decks with that card and this would be a
great addition targeting your own creature.
I see this being in decks, even in
constructed. I will have to play with this
one for a while to really see if the 4 mana
cost is worth it. The flash is what makes
it.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Necro
nomikron
Venser, Shaper
Savant:
Well, we already had a man-o-war in block,
though it didn't have flash. I don't care too
terribly much for the echo cost of the other
man-o-war, and this one has the cost set at the
same CMC. This is more versatile, which works
for it. There's also the flash.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
PsychoAnime
Let's say I'm paying 1 mana for a 2/2 body with
flash. That's pretty good. Now
the remaining 3 mana goes to it's ability. It's
a counterspell mixed in with a
bounce spell for 3 mana. Boomerang is 2 mana
bounce and it's decent, so paying
an extra mana for a delay has to be worth the
cost.
So essentially, you stick both of the above into
1 card and you've got a
decent card. I think the power of this card
comes from its versatility. Yet, I
think some people are overating this as its
power level isn't as high as some
other stuff like Loxodon Hierarch or something.
It's playable but not
exceptionally good.
