This may not have a Jeskai watermark, but it's
clearly designed to support the Jeskai's core
themes and strategy. The idea of noncreature
spells making creatures stronger is,
technically, a fundamental of Magic, but the
prowess ability made it a formalized
deckbuilding concept and theme. This card
doesn't really help if you're using Jeskai
Ascendancy in a combo, or if you don't already
have an appropriate balance of non-creature and
creature spells. But it does help shore up your
deck against the possibility of running out of
spells to trigger prowess abilities - you can
effectively "invest" them early and get benefit
later on at your discretion. There's also
something to be said for the ability to give
that big bonus to any creature you want, after
blockers are announced - with the straight
prowess abilities, the creature always gets the
effect written on it.
Today's card of the day is Scroll of the
Masters which is a two mana artifact that gets a
lore counter whenever you cast a non-creature
spell and for three mana and tapping target
creature you control gets +1/+1 until end of
turn for each lore counter on the Scroll. This
isn't a bad card for a spell heavy deck such as
Red burn, Blue control, or even a very removal
heavy Black build. It works as a finisher of
sorts, usually across two turns, with an evasive
target or a small swarm to get one past
blockers. The number of additional cards it
takes to power up enough to be a viable threat
is a noteworthy drawback and will likely keep it
from seeing any competitive play. In Casual,
Commander, or Multiplayer it might see a few
slots though more direct options are probably
going to be less situational and more reliable.
In Limited the format is creature driven and
there are few benefits to including this over
other options aside from it being colorless and
something to use later in the game for
repeatable if likely small combat boost. An
uncommon is probably a better pick in Booster
both on playability and the low value this has
while in Sealed it should only be played if the
build is heavier on non-creatures.
This scroll, in the right deck, could be like a
huge re-usable pump spell - without the surprise
of an actual pump spell. Play some non-creatures
on your second main or on your opponent's turn
to put counters on the scroll, then attack on
your next turn. Depending on how they block or
respond, you can pump an attacker, leave your
mana for another spell, or leave it open to use
(or bluff) on a blocker. The longer the game
goes on, the more powerful this card is. I can
see it being used in a control deck, where early
kill spells and counterspells build up the
scroll, then late game, bring out your finisher
and win the game in one or two swings.
It all sounds good in theory, but I have my
doubts as to if this is the most efficient way
to do it. With all the good cards that cost
three mana, do you really want to play a
potential future pump spell? To make this good,
you need lots of non-creature spells, increasing
the likelihood that you won't have a creature to
use this on.
Overall, I think it has some potential, but will
probably be found a little too slow and
inconsistent.
