This is the rare from Guildpact that I have seen
the most, primarily because I handed out exactly
FIVE HUNDRED of them to customers at the
Guildpact pre-release in Dallas this past
Saturday. When I first saw this card, I thought
it was great, now I'm not so sure. In limited,
you get only a three powered flyer for SEVEN
mana that gives Replicate to all of your
instants and sorceries, many of which will
already have Replicate. In constructed, it would
certainly be amazing, in a blue/red deck, for
all your instants and sorceries to have
Replicate, but the likelihood of getting this
seven casting cost creature into play is much
lower. So in limited, his ability is less useful
but his casting cost is almost acceptable. In
constructed, his ability is amazing but he costs
too much to use. Somehow, this card will be
abused in constructed, but it will take a pretty
tricked up mana base to do it.
This card is neat. It's a 3/5 flier. It can be
cast with Blue OR Red mana. It gives all your
spells replicate. But there is one big downside.
It's SEVEN mana. That's a big problem. If it
were even one less it would be more exciting. If
it were two less, it might be a staple card in a
lot of decks. I think the seven mana will hold
it back a bit.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 2
Jordan
Kronick
Djinn
Illuminatus
When everybody saw this card, the first thing to
happen was that everyone got sugarplum dreams of
Time Walks and Ancestral Recalls in their heads.
Or half-cost fireballs supplied by Shock (or 1/3
cost with a Lightning Bolt). Okay, sure. There's
that. But those are all old cards. And seven
mana probably won't hold up too well to scrutiny
in the decks of Vintage.
So maybe there's a place for this in Standard or
block constructed?
Unfortunately I just don't think so. The Izzet
aren't really known for mana generation (with
the exception of the Guildmage infinite mana
combo). I think that the Illuminatus is going to
be relegated to the world of casual, where the
number of entertaining ways to use it is as many
as the stars in the sky. Of course, in limited
there's few Izzet cards I'd rather open than
this. The potential to replicate your removal is
just too good to pass up.
Um...no. This just costs way too much
for what you're getting. He's slightly
playable in limited, only because he's a
kinda big flyer, but again, only
slightly. Otherwise, leave him next to
the toilet paper roll.
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