Delney, Streetwise Lookout – Murders at Karlov Manor
Date Reviewed: February 9, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.38
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 4.25
Multiplayer: 4.00
Commander [EDH]: 4.38
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Speaking of things that unexpectedly reference Lorwyn, did anybody else think of Mistmeadow Skulk? Maybe that was just me. And that’s not even the most dangerous part of Delney’s text box. Don’t get me wrong – it’s good, and there will undoubtedly be plenty of mono-white beatdown players lamenting that it didn’t come in the years they had to fight through Call of the Herd or Questing Beast. But the real danger comes from that doubling ability. Look at how many creatures with powerful triggers meet the criterion: everything from Eternal Witness to Deep-Cavern Bat. Look at the fact that it’s now an ability with redundancy, as in the recent Elesh Norn. Enters-the-battlefield triggers are already powerful enough, without an enabler who’s cheap, on-theme, and a creature eligible for Collected Company. I don’t see Delney getting banned or anything like that, but this ability is going to make an impact, and I think it’s going to be big.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Delney, Streetwise Lookout has been turning heads a bit already, thanks to his ability trigger doubling and his unblockability. Both are conditional, but they’re not too big a hoop to get through, so let’s get into it.
The name of the game here is 2 power or less, which feels fitting. If a creature has 2 or less power, Delney gives them a boost. The ability trigger doubling is the one that catches my eye, particularly because it has no particular restrictions on what it hits. This feels like it would include mana abilities, which would be a massive threat if it were the case; while white doesn’t have mana dorks of its own, white is adjacent to the color with loads of them. The soft unblockability is maybe less of an attraction, but it’s not nothing if you have an army able to go wide.
I feel like Delney is a problem waiting to happen. He might be a sufficient problem in Constructed, though I would be concerned about his paltry body. He does benefit from his own unblockability rider, and I think he might be a bit much with more toughness, but this definitely is a creature you want to protect. He’s probably going to break something, though, and I’m sure others have figured out how.
Constructed: 4.25 (call this me hedging my bets)
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5 (he’s potentially unblockable, and this is an environment where his first ability might matter more)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4.75
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