It's instant speed card draw that forces your
opponent to make a tough choice. You divide,
your opponent chooses. The fact that you don't
get to choose makes it a little tougher to get
what you want... if your opponent knows what it
is you want. But a 2-3 split guarantees you get
at least 2 cards without having to tap out on
your opponent's turn. It remains to be seen if
there's an Izzet deck that can get good use from
this, but I wouldn't mind taking it for a spin.
One of the reasons Fact or Fiction has always
been good is that it confuses your opponent.
They probably sat down at the table expecting to
play with their own deck, not to try and
understand what your deck wants at any given
time. The fact is, Steam Augury does sort of do
the same thing, but on a slightly different
axis. However, I feel that it's somewhat like
Prognostic Sphinx from last week in that it also
expects you to know what you're doing and learn
how to bluff (which some control players always
claim they're inherently awesome at - time to
prove it, I think). Above all, though, it's a
card that lets you draw more cards. It's hard to
make a bad one of those.
Today's card of the day is Steam Augury which
is a four mana Blue and Red instant that has you
reveal the top five cards of your library,
separate them into two piles, then have an
opponent choose one pile which is placed into
your hand and the other is sent to your
graveyard.
This is very similar to the Blue instant Fact or
Fiction with the division and selection choices
swapped, that combined with the multicolor
aspect make this a weaker card all around.
Overall it is playable in the newer formats and
nets some card advantage, so an Izzet or Grixis
deck may find use for it at varying levels of
play.
In Limited the card advantage, though
potentially small, gives this value and it is a
solid play during an opponent's turn if untapped
mana for removal or a counterspell was otherwise
unnecessary or a bluff. The color requirement is
the primary drawback as it is a weak first pick
in Booster by locking you into colors, even if
one is a splash, and minor card advantage is not
worth splashing one color alongside the other.
If both colors are your strongest in Sealed then
this is an easy choice to add, but otherwise it
is probably best kept in the sidedeck and is
quite safe to pass in Booster.
Steam Augury is one of those cards that falls
into the “maybe” it will work “maybe” it won’t
work category. Maybe I will draw 3 cards. Maybe
I will draw one card. I’m the type of Magic
player that doesn’t like to rely on my opponent
when drawing cards. Let’s try to look at the
positive things going for Steam Augury. It is an
instant, which means that it can be used in any
situation. You could potentially draw 4 cards
for 4 mana. Steam Augury cycles through your
deck and puts cards into your graveyard. The bad
part about this spell is that you may not get
the card(s) that you actually want. Sure, Steam
Augury adds some fun to the game and it can put
a little pressure on your opponents, but that
might be all that it does. Imagine if this card
did 1 point of damage to the opponent for each
card in the pile that was chosen? That ability
would help explain why there is RED in the mana
cost!
