Augur of Autumn – Midnight Hunt
Date Reviewed: November 12, 2021
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.92
Casual: 3.50
Limited: 3.50
Multiplayer: 3.00
Commander [EDH]: 3.17
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
There have been a number of cards like this in green, and the previous versions tended to get you either lands or creatures, but not both. That potential is strong enough to justify the additional condition to fulfil, and besides, it’s surprisingly easy to meet that condition incidentally, by “accident”. People have been trying to make the “only creatures and lands” deck since at least Future Sight and Heartwood Storyteller, but Augur of Autumn is a much better enabler for that strategy.
If you’re trying to get your head around why it’s so important for you to have that card be in your hand by effect but not literally there, consider how it affects your opponent when they are using effects like Duress to look at your hand, and what they’ll do if you know you have Terror of the Peaks coming, but they don’t.
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5
A bit of a different take on the “cast from the top” creatures, Augur of Autumn potentially broadens your horizons and lets you play lands and cast creatures, where most will only allow for one or the other. For three mana, that’s quite nice, and three mana is indeed that sort of “soft spot” for this effect. The creature casting is locked behind having a coven of your own to cast, though, and that can be a bit tricky; all the same, green is good at varying powers of its creatures at each mana cost, and so you might be able to get this in on turn 3 and ready to fire. Unfortunately, 3 toughness and no other protection is a bit of a downer, but there’s a fair bit to like about a creature that gets your lands out ahead of schedule and might even let you do the same for creatures; this isn’t quite Courser of Kruphix, but it does a nice approximation with a bit more upside at times.
Constructed: 3.75
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.5
Auger of Autumn
Wizard’s answer to how to make Courser of Kruphix not broken…and it’s not bad! In standard, you would want to play this in a green heavy deck but in modern you still want Courser of Kruphix because it is a better card overall. Looking at what is coming next in the top of your library is huge and on top of that you can play lands from the top of your library…well if you don’t need to draw a land and you know one is coming up then this is a no brainer to help filter the deck just a little bit. Unlike Courser though, your opponent doesn’t know what is coming with Auger of Autumn which in most cases is more beneficial depending on the strategy of your deck. As I am typing this, I’m a bit conflicted as to which I like better looking at both cards, I won’t change what I said at the beginning of this review because I still think Courser is better but Auger of Autumn shouldn’t be ruled out. In commander you want to run both, no questions because you will get the coven ability to go off without an issue and gaining life whenever you play a land is just great. I think this is a good all around utility card in the right places, even in draft it could come in hand to help prepare you for your next turn with what is coming. I changed my tune, I like this card! It contributes so much to making green faster, I really like it. I might honestly make a green deck on MTG arena and use this and see how it goes!
Constructed 4/5
Casual 3/5
Limited 4/5
Multiplayer 3/5
Commander 3/5
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