Merfolk tribal is quite serious at this point. Even on its own its quite impressive!
destroytargetplayer
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Crazy card advantage. A good blocker for a few turns that can swing if it needs to, and a free card.
DarthParallax
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(4 votes)
"Before you cast that Lightning Bolt, brash and foolish mage, remember whose Property I am!"
Maybe not in game terms, but for Savoring the Flavor, this guy might as well have Protection From Everything ;)
RJDroid
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I see this as a 4-of in many Standard decks. A body which most likely will replace itself with a counterspell? What's not to love?
LordOfTheFlies87
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Solid.
Dabok
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Wow, this card's just great in a non-creature-heavy deck. It doesn't necessarily have to be a control deck, but yeah, a deck that even just has a little more spells than creatures would benefit from this greatly. It's like a blue top library manipulation card attached to a creature without being too expensive!
It's still awesome card advantage, but it requires you to have a lot more instants/sorceries to be reliable, and most importantly, you can't use it as a toolbox, respond-to-anything card like you can with Snapcaster. Plus, it's more of a wall than a beater which is more blue-flavored. Great design imo.
True_Mumin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Card advantage, 3 toughness for 2 CMC, and it's a Merfolk Wizard, too - another delicious treat for blue. Thanks for making it an uncommon. :)
ThePhoenixOfDoom
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Pros: Cheap cost, search for spells, good stats for facing most standard weenies, Cons: Cards go on bottom of library, can't do much damage, only effective with 20+ instants and sorcerys in your deck, Overall it's not better than Snapcaster Mage but it will deffinatley have its place in control decks. It makes a great blocker (which any control deck needs) and gets you a card.
deadapult13
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Nice, nice. Won't see play in modern combo (because Peer Through Depths is and instant and does it better), but might see a fair amount of play elsewhere.
ParallaxtheRevan
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Another Slave of Bolas. So while Ajani's, Jace's, Liliana's, Chandra's, and Garruk's Planeswalker Signature Spells were dispersed throughout M11-M13, we get Bolas' three all at once. And they're all creature servants. Obviously any signature spell of Bolas' would be OP, like a Thought Hemorrhage crossed with a Mind Funeral or something awful like that.
Hanksingle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Ah, Ponder of Bolas.
If a 1/3 body had any particular relevance in this meta, I think this could be nice, but I sense they worked very hard to make sure it wasn't too good, and in doing so, ended up with something fairly underwhelming.
KnexWiz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
stop comparing this to snapcaster. and no snapy is not compleetly beter, would u play snapy on turn two?
Diachronos
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
He's also a good 4-of with Talrand.
It's always saddening when you play him on T2 and have to put one of your Talrands on the bottom of the deck, though...
BABurrito
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have a question. The card says that "When Auger of Bolas enters the battlefield, look at the top three cards of your library. you may reveal an instant or sorcery card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your liberary in any order." My question is if I choose not to reveal an instant or sorcery, do I still get to put the instant or sorcery in my hand? If you guys know, an answer would be appreciative.
ApocalypseC0w
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Keep in mind that it CAN kill Snapcaster Mage and live........
Still planning on making a standard grixis deck with him, Mindclaw shaman, and Disiple of Bolas to recycle the aforementioned creatures into card advantage. Then Bolas comes out to wreck face.
Enemy_Tricolor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Good tribal synergies, great cost, and puts a card in my hand. This "Bolas" fellow, whoever he is, sounds pretty neat if this is what his Augur is up to.
Chamale
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@ BABUrrito: You may reveal an instant or sorcery and put it in your hand, or reveal nothing and put all 3 cards on the bottom. Whenever an effect puts a card with certain characteristics into your hand, you must reveal it to your opponent. This is to make sure no one cheats by using Augur of Bolas or Mystical Tutor, for example, to find a card other than an instant or sorcery.
tcollins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Serious card advantage
Havrekjex
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The 1/3 body is very relevant for the current Standard. Augur is hard to deal with for any aggro and aggro-to-midrange deck, as it stops a lot of the most common early threats without dying:
So for your two mana, you can stop most other two mana threats in the meta. That's nice, add four. Wait ... you get a free instant or sorcery with it almost every time!? Gah¤%&
JacindaPhi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I am repeating a previous question because I did not see an answer for it. This came up for me as well.
"When Auger of Bolas enters the battlefield, look at the top three cards of your library. you may reveal an instant or sorcery card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order." My question is if I choose not to reveal an instant or sorcery, do I still get to put the instant or sorcery in my hand?" -- it says "MAY CAST" and that's where I question whether I can keep the instant or sorcery or not.
Thx!
Doaj
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The question was already answered actually, but I'll reanswer for the same of clarity.
Look at the top three cards of your library. This means your opponent doesn't know what the three cards are. You may reveal an instant or sorcery from among them. Because you can't select any card, you must reveal the card yu choose to put into your hand. This is to prevent cheating, or at least the temptation of cheating. If you don't reveal a card, you can't put a card into your hand.
RiftenBlack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In the right deck with lots of instants and sorceries, this is much better than something like Wall of Blossoms, which was often used for the same purpose. Being able to get a useful card from the top 3 is much better than simply drawing a random card off the top of your deck.
The defense is still high enough to block lots of aggressive creatures, and unlike cantripping walls, this one can kill the 1 toughness ones, which is kind of format-defining - aggressive decks will want x/2 creatures for their 1-drops against control decks, which is why cards like Dryad Militant are considered poor in Standard right now, despite being better than Savannah Lions.
The card is even made better because it's blue, as green is often the 3rd color in many control decks.
Very good card.
fibonacci112358
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The difference between this guy and Sea Gate Oracle is that he costs 2 mana.
The jump from two to three is the jump from "gravy" to "meat". The cards have very similar effects, but neither qualifies as the "meat". This guy is correctly priced as "gravy".
Xinsden
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Cards like auger of bolas were previously underestimated by me... It's only when i got to start using it in a control burn deck I built that I saw its true potential. Being able to cycle through your library is pretty dang awesome and searching for spells is even better.
Simply, for a 2 drop 1/3, it's a decent defender in early game imo.
I rate this 4.5/5
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It can trade with most two drops and either kill them or bounce off. Plus that first ability is great for any deck packing a decent number of instants/sorceries. It can be flickered for card advantage with Restoration Angel and it can survive Pillar of Flame.
Certainly a 4/5 for Standard.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Very good. Not only does he stabalize a control deck quickly and early, but is abusable with flicker effects, provides reliable card advantage, and does it at a cost that's very hard to beat.
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's a shame this guy didn't get reprinted. I'm going to miss him once Theros rolls in.
GlintKawk42
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
card advantage, and defense against aggro? In the current meta, this is a 5/5
TexasDice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't know why, but he hates me. Even in a deck with 21 lands and 8 creatures I manage to gain nothing.
sweetgab
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is one of the best cards in any Azorius-based control decks in Standard. If this was in M14, people would replace all Snapcaster Mages with this and almost no power would have been lost in the deck. Since we're losing both Snappy and Augur (and Think Twice!), now we have to fill in the gaps with stuff like Boros Reckoner, Izzet Staticaster, Lifebane Zombie, and two-drop removal spells. Quite a bit of power is lost though - this card has been too good to be replaceable.
Towers76
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Soon M13 will rotate out and you will be gone Augur of Bolas. I'm sorry I didn't appreciate you the way I should have. I took you for granted all year long and complained what a p.o.s you were compared to Sea Gate Oracle. Now that I've seen the Theros spoiler and have had a look at Omenspeaker and have responded with "WTF???", I see just how great you really are Augur. It's just too damn bad it's taken a card as horrible as Omenspeaker to make me realize it. I'll miss you buddy.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Reminds me of sea gate oracle. Costs less with the drawback of revealing and being slightly build around. That one mana less makes this extremely powerful though.
Comments (35)
Maybe not in game terms, but for Savoring the Flavor, this guy might as well have Protection From Everything ;)
It's like a blue top library manipulation card attached to a creature without being too expensive!
It's still awesome card advantage, but it requires you to have a lot more instants/sorceries to be reliable, and most importantly, you can't use it as a toolbox, respond-to-anything card like you can with Snapcaster. Plus, it's more of a wall than a beater which is more blue-flavored. Great design imo.
Cheap cost, search for spells, good stats for facing most standard weenies,
Cons:
Cards go on bottom of library, can't do much damage, only effective with 20+ instants and sorcerys in your deck,
Overall it's not better than Snapcaster Mage but it will deffinatley have its place in
If a 1/3 body had any particular relevance in this meta, I think this could be nice, but I sense they worked very hard to make sure it wasn't too good, and in doing so, ended up with something fairly underwhelming.
It's always saddening when you play him on T2 and have to put one of your Talrands on the bottom of the deck, though...
Still planning on making a standard grixis deck with him, Mindclaw shaman, and Disiple of Bolas to recycle the aforementioned creatures into card advantage. Then Bolas comes out to wreck face.
Ash Zealot
Elite Inquisitor
Diregraf Ghoul
Goblin Electromancer
Guttersnipe
Mentor of the Meek
Precinct Captain
Rakdos Cackler
... and even kills a lot of them without dying:
Gravecrawler
Lightning Mauler
Nearheath Pilgrim
Rakdos Shred-Freak
Snapcaster Mage
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
.. and it doesn't die from:
Pillar of Flame
Electrickery
Izzet Charm
... and it loves to be bounced.
So for your two mana, you can stop most other two mana threats in the meta. That's nice, add four. Wait ... you get a free instant or sorcery with it almost every time!? Gah¤%&
"When Auger of Bolas enters the battlefield, look at the top three cards of your library. you may reveal an instant or sorcery card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order." My question is if I choose not to reveal an instant or sorcery, do I still get to put the instant or sorcery in my hand?" -- it says "MAY CAST" and that's where I question whether I can keep the instant or sorcery or not.
Thx!
Look at the top three cards of your library. This means your opponent doesn't know what the three cards are. You may reveal an instant or sorcery from among them. Because you can't select any card, you must reveal the card yu choose to put into your hand. This is to prevent cheating, or at least the temptation of cheating. If you don't reveal a card, you can't put a card into your hand.
The defense is still high enough to block lots of aggressive creatures, and unlike cantripping walls, this one can kill the 1 toughness ones, which is kind of format-defining - aggressive decks will want x/2 creatures for their 1-drops against control decks, which is why cards like Dryad Militant are considered poor in Standard right now, despite being better than Savannah Lions.
The card is even made better because it's blue, as green is often the 3rd color in many control decks.
Very good card.
The jump from two to three is the jump from "gravy" to "meat". The cards have very similar effects, but neither qualifies as the "meat". This guy is correctly priced as "gravy".
Simply, for a 2 drop 1/3, it's a decent defender in early game imo.
I rate this 4.5/5
Certainly a 4/5 for Standard.