Pointed Discussion

I love an opportunity to get more soldiers into blue. It's less relevant than the wizard type on Lumengrid Warden, but, on the whole, I'd call this a strict upgrade. Oh, and it's a fantastic addition to the merfolk tribe, which has a lot of 1 toughness creatures in the this price range.

Two relevant creature types, decent p/t (for blue anyway), great art. All in all, a fine replacement for Coral Merfolk.

I'm not that keen on the Yugioh-style art...

Man, that is some stupid hair.

Well, It does fit blue's flavor better than Coral Merfolk did.

Did anyone catch the (possible) flavor text metaphor? Wizards largely stopped printing merfolk for years and years, but now they're back and here to stay (hunted almost to extinction but survived determined to endure). Going even further, one might argue that merfolk were also changed flavorfully to match up more with blue flavor (in order to justify their reappearance). Nowadays, merfolk tend to be more conniving than they were before Wizards first stopped printing them, causing them to be more calculating. Or it could just be that I'm just off my rocker (consider it food for thought I guess)

Well, at least it's strictly better than Vodalian Soldiers. I feel like Merfolk tribal could've used a plain 2/2 better, but I guess this fits blue's defensive flavor more.

I don't know what's to complain about this creature. Yes, it has no abilities. It's a 2 CMC common. Yes, it could have been a 2/2, but no, creating a bunch of low CMC Merfolk to make blue more aggressive would not be better than magic, it would be wrong for the color pie. Blue needs defensive creatures and counters to survive until it gets its huge Leviathans out. I like this guy as an easy blocker against most other player's 2/2 creatures without having to lose a creature to the combat.

Meh card, great art. I love the card sleeves with this guy on them.

I love the art... I just wish it was attached to a better card.

nice art, mediocore card

awesome art awesome awesome. too bad it blows geeze. whats wrong with good merfolk.

Hey, its a 2CMC common. Noone will be winning any games with it, and it will never see the light of day in constructed, but in limited or rotary draft, it's a solid low-cost pick for blue, since its the slowest-starting color and it sucks to waste Unsummon's and Counterspell's on early-game plays just to keep off a disadvantage. This guy is the king of staving off red haste-drops and white one-drops.

Sure, he dies to Lightning Bolt, but at such a low cost, it still generates an advantage for you if he wastes one on your 1/3 fodder.

I was expecting this card to be a powerhouse since it was featured on the cover of the 2011 booster packs and i was sorely disappointed h/w i is a terrific blue card

Everyone THOUGHT this was going to be a mythic lord or something....... but that spot's reserved for Time Reversal.
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This card has great art! I can't believe they brought back Coral Merfolk in M12. At least Maritime Guard made a decent wall in Limited. Plus with Lightning Bolt out he would have been even more useful.

This is not Marit Lage. If you don't know what I mean, try looking up Marit Lage in search.

Why the hate? its a vanilla 2 drop thats catered for blue. The p/t is right on the curve

Okay, I really do not understand the flavor of this card.
It is blue.
It has time in its name.
HOWEVER, it is neither horrendously broken, nor does it require twelve pages of oracle rulings.
What the hell, Wizards.

Unless utilizing the soldier type in it, Augur of Bolas is a thing now. That said, this is a good draftable common and a beater in merfolk tribal aggro decks.

It can hold the fort for early aggression, but it is limited fodder. Even budget kitchen top decks can shell out 1 dollar for sea gate oracle.