I know I'm always going to be confusing this
card with things from Shards of Alara. They also
liked the word "aerie" for Bant, because it was
very good at representing the blue skies and
open spaces of that world. I miss Alara.
What was I saying? Oh, yes. This card is not
particularly exciting to people used to slinging
Titans and planeswalkers and $50 dual lands and
countering three spells each turn. However,
there's an equally large, if not greater,
audience who appreciates a solid defender,
difficult to kill attacker, and extra creatures
each turn. Plus: infinite combo with Banishing
Knack and Intruder Alarm! Score!
Today's card of the day is Aerie Worshippers
which is a four mana Blue
2/4 with Inspired that allows you to pay three
whenever it becomes untapped to put a 2/2 Blue
enchantment bird token with Flying into play.
Three mana for a 2/2 evasive every turn is a
solid threat in almost any situation and the 2/4
body resists many forms of typical removal.
Needing to tap the Worshippers is the only
potential drawback as attacking can be
problematic without support, so making it
unblockable with Aqueous Form is one of the
easier ways around that.
Other options include cards with a cost of
tapping creatures you control or a different
source of evasion. Overall in a build with even
minimal support this is an excellent card that
can be the primary win condition or as a
secondary theme which means it should see at
least some play competitively.
In Limited a source for reusable evasive token
generation is very powerful in the format and an
easy early pick in Booster, possibly even first
depending on the rare. The single Blue in
the casting and effect cost is easily managed
and any deck in Sealed with Blue mana should
include it when available. Unless the
opponent has removal or can destroy it on a
block this places a very short clock on the game
and has to be answered quickly.
A 2/4 creature isn't going to have such a rough
time becoming tapped, especially in Limited,
where that 4 toughness is hard to get around.
Ideally, you want a card like Witches' Eye or
something to grant it a tap ability. If you can
do that, you essentially get a free Wind Drake
every turn. And when I say "free", I mean it
doesn't cost a card in your hand-- you still
have to pay the 2U. This whole business is just
too slow and fragile for Constructed, where Wind
Drakes don't quite cut it and Mizzium Mortars
exists, but in Limited it's an endgame engine
that can (and undoubtedly will) win games.
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