I remember when this first came out, there was a
lot of discussion as to how valuable the
Clique's hand disruption ability is. You get to
banish the best card in their hand, but they get
to draw a replacement. But the replacement
probably won't be as scary as the card you
banished, it'll likely be a land, or something
not quite relevant. And you get to see the rest
of their hand, so you can plan accordingly...
except for that one card.
In all this conjecture it's easy to lose track
of the fact that Vendilion Clique is a 3/1 flyer
for three mana, which is a fearsome card on its
own, AND it has flash.
This is how I prefer to remember Veesa, Endry,
and Iliona. It's great that they were such major
players in the mega-story of the
Lorwyn-Shadowmoor mega-block, but much like the
faerie tales that those underrated sets were
based on, it doesn't have the happiest of
endings. I won't give it away for those who
haven't read it, because I'd rather everyone
else remembered them like this too. They also
offer gameplay that never existed before and may
never again: a trick that acts like Duress on
your opponent, like Opt on yourself, and like a
strong flying creature all the time makes them
about six deck slots in one, and makes them
relevant practically all of the time. Much like
yesterday's card of the day, they instantly
improve almost any deck in their color, and can
turn around a game just by being cast.
Today's card of the day is Vendilion Clique
which is a three mana Blue
3/1 Legendary with Flash, Flying, and when it
comes into play you look at target player's hand
and may choose a non-land card from it, reveal
it, then place it on the bottom of the library
and that player draws a card. At instant speed
it can be a surprise evasive threat played at
the end of an opponent's turn with unused
countermagic mana, block to trade with an
attacker of three or less toughness, filter your
hand by trading out a card for another, or stall
out an opponent's upcoming play by trading out
their card. This is a very powerful, versatile,
and popular choice for Blue decks across formats
and is only held back by the Legendary status,
one toughness, and double Blue in the casting
cost. Overall those drawbacks don't lessen the
impact by much and it even has some support with
the Faerie or Wizard types for tribal builds.
In Limited the double Blue is a minor issue,
but a three mana evasive creature for three mana
is a great first pick even if the rare draft
value isn't incentive enough. In Sealed or
Booster if Blue is a decent portion of the deck
this is an automatic inclusion and there's no
real drawback as at worst it trades and can
filter your hand by a card.
