It's great that he gains control of creatures.
Unfortunately, it's hard to predict which small
creatures you are going to want to stop. On the
other hand, for his cost, his ability is pretty
good. If I was playing a format dominated by
small creatures (or a casual game), he probably
wouldn't be that bad.
This card is the epitome of flavor expressed
through rules text. Instead of attacking, the
Old Man here can jump onto the back of an
opposing creature and, if it's not stronger than
him, force it at bladepoint to betray its
master. And he can stay perched on its back,
holding that knife to its throat, for as many
turns as necessary, but he can't attack while
doing this. If he untaps (gets knocked off),
leaves play, or if the creature's power exceeds
his own (it wins the fight), then he loses his
influence over it. He can also choose to jump
off when he untaps if you tell him to. The one
flaw is his creature type-- Marid? Is that his
name? Is it somehow connected to Homarids and
Camarids?
Oh, but is he a good card? Well, I don't really
think so, but I didn't see any potential in
Threads of Disloyalty either, and they're pretty
similar. And Threads saw tournament play, so I
guess this could be good.
Constructed- 3
Casual- 5
Limited- 3
KC MetroGnome
Old Man of the
Sea
Again a nostalgic card that really stinks. I
never had the delusions of grandeur with this
card that I did with Ali, though. Back when I
was even more of a scrub than I am now I had a
creature stealing deck (I still have it, I just
like to think it's better than it used to be).
Even in my scrubbiest of days, I never once
considered running Old Man of the Sea. Except to
have in case I needed to turn into the beatdown
at 3 mana cost for a 2/3 creature. The things he
could steal for you he would probably be better
to just kill outright by blocking, and that's
not good in your creature stealers. Leave this
guy at home (even in Arabian Nights limited and
block).
Constructed - 1+
Casual - 1+
Limited - 1
Aethereal
Old Man of the
Sea
Control Magic on a stick and with some
restrictions. This has an advantage over Control
Magic in that you can ditch the creature you
stole to steal a more threatening one, but the
restriction on the power requires you to boost
this guy's power permanently if you want to take
something bigger. Also, the fact that this can
get blasted by a burn spell makes him less
appealing than something like Control Magic.
In casual, big creatures are popular, so I'd
just play Control Magic instead if you want to
steal a creature.
Again, I've never played Arabian Nights limited,
but this guy can give you a creature advantage,
so I'd play him.
