We often associate the concept of artifacts that
either are a color themselves, or require
specific colors of mana for their abilities, or
are otherwise connected to certain colors, with
relatively recent sets. For example, both of the
Mirrodin blocks had high-profile cycles of
artifacts and artifact creatures with powerful
abilities with colored activations. In reality,
though, the concept goes all the way back to the
beginning of Magic - Gauntlet of Might and
Kormus Bell were powerful and/or build-around
cards from Alpha. It makes sense flavor-wise,
too, because if any color can use artifacts, why
wouldn't someone with a color alignment make an
artifact that supported their particular
preference?
I personally look at Bomat Courier's ability as
a form of card-drawing, albeit one that's pretty
much as unconventional as they come. It's a
little hard to compare to the more "straight"
types of card-drawing because you have to
potentially wait a long time for the cards (and
if the Courier gets destroyed before then,
you're down a whole bunch of cards from your
library). But there are opponents against whom
you might want to hide things for a while, even
if it's a random selection from your deck - the
Thoughtseize and/or Mind Sludge decks spring to
mind, and there are situations in red vs. red
matchups where successfully protecting a Courier
for long enough can give you some options at the
time your opponent is running out.
The idea of this card is interesting: use it to
set aside another hand, and then crack it when
your hand is useless or depleted to get a fresh
start. The concept is cute, but the 1/1 body is
not. It's all too easy to see your little
courier get smashed to smithereens or something
similar, and the cards that got exiled by it are
then gone forever.
A really aggressive red deck might have a use
for this little guy, but it'd have to basically
empty its hand on turn 2 or 3 before cracking
this to make it worth the trouble. And it's also
awful as a late-game draw.
