At one target, it's a fair combat trick, on par
with Vault Skyward. Blue doesn't often get P/T
boosts on its tricks, so enjoy it while it
lasts. Four mana to give the same benefit to two
targets isn't bad, especially if you've got two
reasonably big ground pounders. Seven mana to do
it to three creatures? That's pushing it, but
now we're definitely to the point where you put
it on the stack and ask "...for the win?"
Obviously, Heroic decks want this a lot, because
it's one of the few ways to trigger Heroic on
more than one creature at a time. I would
counter that the decks most able to exploit a
card like this are the decks running Blue
Monstrous cards like the Krakens and so forth.
If your opponent doesn't have flying blockers, a
pair of Krakens can be a terrifying thing, and
if you're already banking on getting Monstrosity
mana, then the Strive cost won't look so
painful. The real question is-- will the people
who run this know best how to use it?
So, this mechanic is Wizards of the Coast's
concession to the fact that people may try to
make decks based around the heroic mechanic and
the flavor of heroes, but not have ways to
target everyone equally. This mechanic also
illustrates how Wizards either doesn't know or
doesn't care that removal is usually stronger
than creatures (especially recently - ever seen
a deck 93/94 format, full as they mostly are of
Juzam Djinns, Craw Giants, and Thunder
Spirits?), because it costs so much more to cast
a strive card with multiple targets than it does
to kill one or more of the targets. Still, when
your opponent doesn't see it coming, Aerial
Formation can be devastating. It's basically a
blue Overrun, and that is a sentence I thought I
would literally never write. The fact that it's
in a color that can (given enough mana) counter
anything the opponent tries to use to mess with
it is also worth keeping in mind.
Today's card of the day is Aerial Formation
which is a one mana Blue instant with Strive for
three that gives Flying and +1/+1 until end of
turn. This is a relatively weak combat trick
that can give a one turn surprise attack or
defense to a creature or two, though rarely more
outside of Multiplayer or Commander. The offense
and defense boost doesn't compare to the higher
options available from other cards, but Blue has
access to low cost auras that often provide more
effective benefits than this does as an instant.
In Limited this is a decisive stalemate
ending card that will often allow two or three
creatures an open attack and the +1/+1 is not
negligible. Defensively it can work to block a
Flying threat, though trading or destroying is
far preferable to a two for one sacrificial
block. For Sealed there is no reason not to
include this when running Blue, it needs a bit
to be really effective, but the potential is
definitely there. With Booster it is a strong on
color choice that can be an earlier pick in weak
packs or ones lacking better support.
The new Strive mechanic has shown to have
lots of uses. Early in the game, it can effect
one creature as a combat trick, or in this case,
make a creature of yours flying to be a surprise
blocker for their flier. Later in the game, you
can make your whole team flying and go over the
top to finish off your opponent. If you're
running Heroic creatures, this becomes much
better, as it actually targets as many creatures
as you pay for.
As good as that sounds, the application falls
a little short. Making something - or a few
somethings - flying for a turn is a mediocre
effect. There are lots of other ways to make
things flying, and most of them are more
efficient. And if you want to get three or more
creatures to fly, you're spending 7+ mana. How
often would you be happy to draw that card, even
in the late game: 7 mana, make three creatures
flying until end of turn?
The only real use this might have is in a
limited deck where evasion wins you games, and
the game might go long enough where you can
strive this multiple times for a big effect.
Even then, I wouldn't feel particularly proud
running this in my draft deck - was there really
nothing better to pick?
How many ways are there to use Aerial
Formation, to varying degrees of effectiveness?
I've found four, surprisingly. Let's go through
them.
The first and most obvious use is to trigger
creatures with heroic. A nice, simple 1 mana
card to trigger heroic on one guy (or 4 mana for
two creatures, 7 mana for 3 creatures, etc) and
give it +1/+1 and flying just for good measure.
Could get in some nice early damage, establish
board control, or whatever your heroic guy does.
The second and also pretty obvious way to use
this card is as a finisher. Sure you could use
this on your Hero of Iroas early in the game...
but how equally awesome would it be to throw it
on a Tromokratis, or a monstrous Hydra
Broodmaster and its brood, and swing in the air
for the win? The third use is as a VERY weak,
but still potentially useful, combat trick.
Basically if normally you'd be trading say a 3/3
for an opponent's 3/3, you can surprise them and
have your creature live. It's still 1 card for 1
card, but maybe your creature is more useful
alive than Aerial Formation is to you at that
moment. And the fourth and final use is to help
trigger any "Whenever X deals combat damage to a
player" abilities you might have. It's not the
most efficient use of this card, but sometimes
games can be won or lost depending on if Ohran
Viper was able to draw you a card or not.
The card ends up being pretty versatile,
useful in either the early game with it's cost
of 1 or late game as a finisher for many
creatures, which you could see and should
prepare for in limited. But the problem is that
even with all that wonderful versatility, the
effect itself is still very weak. There are
usually better cards to trigger heroic, although
this is still decent at that. While it can be
used as a combat trick, it's one of the worst
ones out there. The finisher/stalemate breaker
usage is probably the most fun, but I just don't
really see this being worth a deck slot outside
of limited. You'd usually rather draw an actual
threat, rather than a very mild enhancement to a
threat. Besides, if you're running blue, don't
you already have access to strong creatures with
flying?
It's nice to imagine the best-case-scenario
situations, where this card is super awesome and
does a lot to help you win. But unfortunately I
do feel that most of the time, a +1/+1 and
flying power-up just isn't going to be enough to
turn the tide in your favour.
