Falco Spara, Pactweaver– Streets of New Capenna
Date Reviewed: May 3, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.33
Casual: 4.50
Limited: 4.17
Multiplayer: 3.83
Commander [EDH]: 4.08
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
One of the recent Commander precons had a partially-green vampire legend in it. The only thing I would have predicted less than that is a partially-green-and-white demon. But since New Capenna seems to be Magic’s answer to the innovation and change of the early-20th century boom times, I’m going with it, especially since Falco has some subtle power to him. As a Pactweaver, he tempts you into getting a stream of free cards from the top of your deck, but that bargain unsurprisingly demands that you basically build your deck around him. That’s easy in casual and Commander, reasonably strong even without him in the right constructed environment, and harder but no less game-breaking in limited. I think Falco’s offer is one that few will be able to refuse.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 5/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander [EDH]: 4/5
The Italian verb “sparare” means “to shoot”, as to rub out, hit, whack, say hello to one’s little friend, and so forth. I wonder if his surname is more than coincidental.
Let’s start at the surface level: Falco Spara, Pactweaver is a reasonably-costed beater with protection to him, which definitely helps a lot in spite of his slightly small body. Where things get fun is when you pair him with his ability to cast spells off the top of your library by removing counters, and that enables all sorts of degeneracy if you’re able to guarantee a steady stream of spells, and there are plenty of ways to strip counters to keep the chaos going. You’ll need to ensure that you have the spells to keep casting, but Bant colors are pretty good at that in a pinch, and I’m sure there’s some way to pair this with -1.-1 counters for degeneracy (like Devoted Druid).
Absent that, Falco Spara is still a protected, evasive beater at an efficient rate. Even if you never cast a spell off of him, that’ll win you games aplenty.
Constructed: 4 (I think he’ll be best as an attacker, but control decks might have a new friend)
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.75 (only downside is that he’s just a 3/3, but he does enough otherwise)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.25 (if you build around him, things will get crazy)
For four mana you get a flying, trample, and a shield counter (I think these are going to be broken) on a 3/3 creature. It seems pretty low in the P/T department but when you stop and look at the bant cards they’re all primarily focused on giving you counters of various kinds including +1/+1 counters. A nice added bonus is the Oracle ability and being able to cast the card by removing one of these counters. I think this helps to balance the Oracle ability a bit to not make it too overpowered. In commander I think this will fit nicely in the Perrie percon deck as an upgrade, this could easily be the commander but I think it fits better in the 99 build personally to fully gain advantage of Perrie’s ability.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander [EDH]: 4/5
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