The expression "swan song" comes from Greek,
which makes it clever of Wizards to have put
this card in Theros. It's also cool that they
didn't go for the literal meaning of an ending,
but something rather trickier. There are some
fun plays that involve targeting your own
spells, though they're arguably questionable in
terms of card advantage - try it when this and
Demonfire are the last two cards in your hand.
Even when you're not trying to engineer
situations like that, there are few times when
you'll be more concerned about a 2/2 token than
a God or a Warp World or such. Even without a
splash color, blue gets much stronger flying
creatures (albeit few as beautiful as the
magical swan in the art).
Until next week, remember the past, and stop and
take time to sing.
Today's card of the day is Swan Song which is a
one mana Blue instant that counters an
enchantment, instant or sorcery, then gives the
controller a 2/2 Flying token. This is
better either in the later stages of a game
where the 2/2 is less of a threat or with combos
that can be disrupted. Working to protect
a combo this can win games and against one it
can ruin an opponent's strategy, so it offers
quite a bit for just one mana. Other
options exist and may see more play,, but the
drawback to this is minor in the right
situation.
In Limited the 2/2 evasive flier combined with
not countering creatures or artifacts leaves
this in a less favorable position. A rare
that can be passed on in Booster unless control
is the preferred style of play.
In Sealed it can be included when running Blue
and in a truly dire situation can counter your
own spell to put a creature into play, though
that is far from efficient.
