I remember a conversation I had with somebody
back in 2008, where they argued that this card
was "stone-cold" proof that the Ravnica dual
lands were going to be reprinted imminently. Why
would Wizards give us a trick like this unless
you could trigger it with just one land? Perhaps
because it's actually pretty strong, regardless
of how many lands you need for it or the exact
colors of your deck. Even just in the
environment of the Alara block, it stops an
awful lot of one- to three-mana creatures. In
constructed, it's a little overly defensive and
a little bland compared to other creatures from
Naya, but it's not entirely without value,
considering that a lot of constructed games are
all about saving mana or spending it on as many
things as possible.
At Friday Night Magic (FNM), I've gotten a
surprising amount of mileage out of this card.
It looks fairly innocuous (a 2/3 reach for 3 is
a pretty mediocre rate of return), but the
effect is far nastier. You get the chance to
flash it in for zero mana when someone's
attacking you and you control a Forest and a
Plains…like a Temple Garden or Canopy Vista,
maybe?
Qasali Ambusher is a deceptively powerful card,
since it trades with or outright crushes a lot
of the cards that aggressive decks favor (Goblin
Guide, Monastery Swiftspear, Delver of Secrets).
It's powerful with fetchlands and dual lands
with land types, but it can come up short in a
less favorable format. Being a 2/3 is also a
touch awkward as far as vulnerability to burn
spells go in the format.
