This
thing is already getting a good amount of
use in Pyrohemia decks as a creature most
likely to survive the bloodfire. It also
works well as a cheap, high-toughness
creature for a Red mage to hide behind while
he slings off burn spells. Although there
hasn't been much call for Wall of Stone as
of late (is that still in Standard?), this
might prove useful in any deck that just
needs to hold creatures off for a bit.
Constructed- 2
Casual-
2.5
Limited-
2.5
Lincoln
Waterhouse
Aether Membrane
Constructed: Not bad if you need to buy some
time. However, red rarely wants to buy some
time. Usually red is hoping to pump out the
damage. A defender never really gets much
constructed play in red.
Casual: I like this for casual group format. At
least you can hold some players at bay and they
may think twice about coming your way. The fact
that this blocks flyers makes it that much
better.
Limited: A solid pick. However, far from a first
pick. Its always good to have as many creatures
as you can in a draft or sealed, so I certainly
would not pass this up as a 4th pick or later.
Constructed: 1 for dualing. 2 for group play
Casual: 2 for dualing 4 for group play
Limited: 3
David N
Wednesday -
Aether Membrane
Remake of Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch or Wall
of Tears but in red and more defense. Being able
to block fliers will also add to the usefulness
of this card. If you need a wall in red use this
guy. Beyond a pseudoflying blocker don't see
anything else for this guy.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 1
Limited: 3
David Fanany
Aether Membrane
This is certainly a unique card, since most
cards that can block creatures with flying are
green. Unfortunately, I don't think that's
enough for Aether Membrane to see serious play
in constructed formats. Many of the creatures
with flying you'll want to block have five power
or more anyway, and it'll only buy you one turn
of not being hit; as such, Silklash Spider will
be better. Most red decks want to be aggressive
anyway, and those that don't have better ways of
controlling the board. In Limited, though, a
creature like Aether Membrane can be moderately
useful. Even though you'll generally want a
creature that can attack as well, its high
toughness and its ability to bounce blockers can
buy you time to set up your side of the board.
In casual play, you can probably find a use for
this, but you might be better off just using
Silklash Spider.
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 3/5
LennonMarx
Constructed
It's a wall. Yuck. Red creatures that don't turn
sideways and/or don't have relevent abilites are
bad. Period. Just play another threat, or some
burn... or more land, just dont play this.
1/5
Casual
A bit better here but not much. It can hold off
the a few people in multiplayer because no one
wants to recast their creature when they can
just hit someone else, and its a pitty to waste
a kill spell on a wall.
Still not very good. Not loseing the game
doens't matter if you can't win the game, and
this just doesn't help you win.
1.5/5
Limited
In limited this is okay for buying time in a
controling red/x build. Not a real high pick in
draft, as it will likely table, and it would
likely be cut even if it was picked, but still
not a bad sideboard card. More likely to see
play in Sealed. Not terrible by any means, but
I'd much rather have something that wasn't a
wall in all but the most controling decks.
2/5
PsychoAnime
When's the last time you've seen a defender in a
good deck? Cmon, I'll give
you sometime...
Well, the only one I can think of right now is
Steel Wall, and even that's
not very good. There's a reason why they aren't
in them though, and it's
because not being able to attack is a huge
disadvatange, so Aether Membrane
better have a really good ability to redeem
itself for use.
So it's a flying wall. That's a plus. And it
bounces anything it blocks to its
owner's hand. That's actually decent but no
one's going to attack when they
see this in play without good reason so it
really all goes down to how easily
this card can be worked around.
5 toughness means it's not going to get burned
down or overpowered easily so
it's either going to be killed by a spell or
overpowered. Getting killed by
a spell is unavoidable for many creatures and
even if it's overpowered,
your opponent's has probably spent a great deal
of resources to get such a
large creature so bouncing it is pretty good in
tempo.
However, it's still a defender and red is not
the colour to stall with so it's
score suffers a bit from that. It's also not a
threat and doesn't generate
any advantage so in the end, its score remains
low even with its pro points
described above.
In limited it could be a ok pick because it's
just so hard to kill and it keeps
your life high.
Constructed: 2.5/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Arcane
Reviews by
Arcane
Aether Membrane
Wall of Stone, Wall of Fire all have nothing on
Aether Membrane for being the great wall of
redness.
Constructed: Dedicated Red burn decks will
probably like this card as a blocker to throw in
the way of their opponent’s creature while they
toss burn spell after burn spell at the head.
Only black decks with their removal spells will
have an easy time getting this out of their way
(though a lot of black aggro decks will probably
be relying on shadow or fear which slip right
past the “tongue wall”).
Casual/Multi: If a big wall wasn’t enough of a
deterrent to keep your opponent’s from attacking
you, the bounce ability tacked on is really
going to make them look elsewhere for their
beating shenanigans, the only disadvantage being
that it will probably become a target very quick
for removal spells (which may be to the benefit
of your other creatures). Won’t stop combo decks
from going off, or from being swarmed with a
huge group of creatures (unless you combine it
with Valor Made Real *wicked laugh*) but you
can’t have everything.
Limited: In limited this is an amazing grab,
even if it isn’t a first or second pick. Not as
strong as all the burn or some of the other
aggressive creatures red has access to, but I’ve
seen this wall shut down entire decks before by
making it really difficult if not impossible to
attack you. Most decks will have to expend some
resource to kill it (gaining you some tempo if
they have to use a combat trick like brute force
b/c their creature will still return to their
hand at end of combat).
