Aether Revolt - First Impressions: Rare

Magic: The Gathering - Puzzle Quest MtGPQ General Discussion
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Okay, let’s get to the rares. I’ll divide them by colors this time, but I’ll keep it a bit shorter:

Colorless:
*Aethersphere Harvester: Lifelink for Overload 1 is quite strong, Crew 3 is nice too. It’s the first vehicle that crosses over into energy, which could be interesting for new kind of decks.
*Peacewalker Colossus: Another one that uses energy to get vehicles out faster. Vigilance makes this much much weaker because it’s unlikely this will stay around long enough to produce a lot of mana.
*Walking Ballista: This is a really interesting card. Hard to say if it works, but if it does this could be strong.

Black:
*Baral’s Expertise: For 10 mana this sounds like a very good deal!
*Battle at the Bridge: Could be good in the right decks of course. The best thing about this card, though: it finally works.
*Glint-Sleeve Siphoner: Card drawing is not always the strongest ability and a 6/5 menace for 17 mana is a bit tough. Not in love.
*Yahenni’s Expertise: Very interesting sweeper that gives you a big advantage. Should be powerful.

White:
*Consulate Crackdown: This is the first of a cruel joke by the developers. In a world where we knew who we play against and where a sideboard made any sense, this could be good. But this is only true in some events where this card might work against some support-heavy opponent. 24 mana is still a lot to ask.
*Solem Recruit: A 3/3 double strike for 6 is really good!
*Sram’s Expertise: That’s also a very good deal. The unnamed “Gain mana” mechanic is certainly powerful.

Red
*Freejam Regent: Again, defender gets this one killed quickly and the ability is just okay, I think.
*Kari Zev’s Expertise: This is cruelest joke I’ve seen in a while. Who can use this card? There are no artificial opponents that use vehicles, there are no KLD only events that would guarantee you find some other opponents. This card is the most useless card I can think of unless you want to pay 6 mana to play another 4 mana card.
*Release the Gremlins: This card should be really annoying to someone with supports. It seems much, much better than the white mass support removal because 3 is normally enough (well, if they are not fabricate heavy) and you get a nice creature on top.

Green
*Greenbelt Rampager: This. is. weird. I don’t want to play this card. 6/6 for 7 is fine but not if you return it to your hand right away.
*Heroic Intervention: Could be good but it’s probably just okay.

Blue
*Quicksmith Spy: Very powerful for Jace 2!
*Whir of Invention: Only in a really fitting deck does this make sense because if you pay 11, you want to fetch something that is worth it.

Multicolor
*Oath of Ajani: A good card and a great card in an energy deck. An amazing card in the green-white deck we want to build with the GW PW (which hopefully won’t completely rely on energy).

That’s it for rare. Comments?

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I’ll try to keep my first impressions to the potential benefits I see, so it’s not too redundant.

Colorless:
Aethersphere Harvester: I like this one. The potential to give Lifelink to any deck relatively easy is not something to overlook.
Peacewalker Colossus: I also like this one. Combine it with Gearshift Ace and some other Vehicles (like that mythic 12/12 with Vigilance), and you can finally have a good deck centered around vehicles (and people can complain about Saheeli’s new 3rd ability a little less)
Walking Ballista: This could be the sleeper hit of the set. You can wreck opponents by combining it with Saheeli’s Artistry, Jace2/Dovin/Koth’s 3rd ability, .

Black:
Baral’s Expertise: Really good card, and it looks like it will be available to us through an Event Reward!
Battle at the Bridge: Interesting card. Definitely meant to go with Marionette Master, but I think it could work with Creatureless Ob as well. Looks like another Event Reward!
Glint-Sleeve Siphoner: This one is the hardest to come up with a reason to use it. I would only use it for screwing up the opponent’s Energize potential.
Yahenni’s Expertise: This could be decent, I don’t usually use cheap creatures in Black, but combined with Languish means you can kill most hexproof things with it.

White:
Consulate Crackdown: Meh. It’s very specialized. I can see the use of it, but it’s so expensive. Will see limited use.
Solem Recruit: 3/3 double strike for 6?? Hellooooo Nahiri!! Also a nice reward for anyone who actually bought Depala.
Sram’s Expertise: Solid card, get a bunch of Thopters and a bonus free 6-mana card out of it! I like it.

Red
Freejam Regent: Not great, but sometimes you just want a flying defender in a color that lacks good defenders. Would have helped in that C2 “take 15 damage or less” objective.
Kari Zev’s Expertise: way too specific of a card to use in any consistent capacity unless you know you’re fighting a vehicle-heavy opponent.
Release the Gremlins: A little pricey but seems pretty decent. Probably won’t replace demolish, but I like that it can do double duty.

Green
Greenbelt Rampager: Umm maybe in a deck that has a lot of Energize. 6/6 for 7 mana is ok, but it’s kinda like a less effective Dust Stalker.
Heroic Intervention: I like it. Has potential in a deck full of defenders, and sometimes you just really want to make sure your creatures last until the next round, but it’s a little pricey for a one-time spell.

Blue
Quicksmith Spy: This one looks tailor-made for Jace2. 4/5 for 11 isn’t terrible either.
Whir of Invention: Umm it’s basically Tezzeret in a card. Has potential in a Dovin Starfield deck but I don’t like not knowing what I’m gonna get.

Multicolor
Oath of Ajani: This one has potential, but I don’t like that it requires Overload to buff. I don’t see it getting used a lot.

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Colorless:
Aethersphere Harvester: Solidly priced, solid body, useful effect, especially in colorless. Crew has needed more useful creatures, and this fits the bill.
Peacewalker Colossus: Too expensive, body is too small, and OL2 won’t happen often enough.
Walking Ballista: If Ishkanah isn’t playable, I’m not sure this one is either. With heavy energy investment it might fire a few times, but…meh.

Black:
Battle at the Bridge: I like the potential for this to work with clues and fabricate. I wish it was like Die Young, however, and went off of total number of supports on the board. Then it’d be a great card.
Glint-Sleeve Siphoner: Too gimmicky. Slow card-draw on a weak body.
Yahenni’s Expertise: I was really hopeful that this card would improve on Languish. It did not. Very disappointing. -5/-5 kills virtually nothing that needs to be killed.

White:
Consulate Crackdown: Great sideboard card. 24 is too expensive, though. Supports remain the bane of the game, as their utter randomness sways matches regularly. Thus, this card is important, but it should be priced at around 16.
Solemn Recruit: By comparison, look at Iroas’ Champion. Yup. Power creep. Love this card, though. I want 4. And I’m sure I’ll get 0. =p Very powerful.
Sram’s Expertise: Very solid card. Gains Thopters and refunds some of the cost to a secondary card. Obviously needs the right build to take advantage of the last part, but that’s possible. Green/white Oviya thopters will probably be a thing.

Red
Freejam Regent: Aside from the “neighbor’s garage band” name, solid card. Flying defenders are hard to come by, especially in red, and the relatively low power/cost efficiency doesn’t detract from the fact it’s playable.
Kari Zev’s Expertise: Sideboard only. Sort of funny.
Release the Gremlins: Great card. You get a 6/6 and kill 3 supports at a reasonable price. I would have preferred it be 14ish, but this is very solid and fills a necessary gameplay niche (along with Consulate Crackdown).

Green
Greenbelt Rampager: I like it, and should be very effective in N2 decks.
Heroic Intervention: Probably best on alpha-strike turns, but pricy. Understandable, though, as if it were cheap it’d be easily abused. Still, I’m not sure if it’ll make it into event builds.

Blue
Baral’s Expertise: Very solid card, though its situational nature makes it unreliable. I love the effect.
Quicksmith Spy: Might slot in nicely into Jace decks, though J2 has no problem drawing cards, or summoning larger creatures.
Whir of Invention: Not useful unless you know what you’re going to be getting, I think. Should be slightly cheaper to account for randomness.

Multicolor
Oath of Ajani: It’s decent if you have a lot of energy, but probably not going to make much of a difference in a game. In the right energize deck, gaining +3/+3 a turn is pretty nice. I’m just not sure that deck exists.