Pointed Discussion

He is grumpy cat; cannot unsee. VERY good p/t/c ratio and his ability is easy for Dimir to manipulate into your advantage via Dimir Charm.

"I'm the new Bob, kneel!"

Like this card...

the perfect example of a spike card. an efficient, evasive creature that is powerful in the hands of skilled players, but can backfire in the wrong deck or format.

ALL HAIL OMNIBOB! A Bob for all!

Big Bob

Is that you Dark Confidant? Did you do something with your hair?

20 dollars today on starcity....... This guy is just not THAT great. Will be less than 5 in a while. No one wants their opponents getting free draws. Does not even come close to Confidant.

bob againts the people who run thragtusk =D

Unlike Bob, Seer is a 4/4 flyer that could be offensively painful for your opponent, especially after they pay life repeatedly for cards.

Did I mention U/B is the color of discard? How hard is it to keep your opponent's hand empty after he draws? A simple Raven's Crime and the like would do the trick.

The fact that this costs more than Bob makes it a lot worse than Bob imo, for the sole reason that it's not as easy to put a playset in a deck. Also they made it mythic rare which is meh.

Let's mill a card from you and give me a card that'll help me mill you. Malicious don't you think?

TimmyForever, how about talking a break from the gatherer?

"What a wonderful day to have dark confidence!!!" - This guy

This guy is far from Bob, but he seems interesting in multiplayer and is a great throwback to the original Ravnica. He's not worth the amount of money he's currently going for though.

heh, heh,
Bob's his uncle....

I'll show myself out.

Wizard Vampire. Gaaah. Trying to remember which card this typeline reminds me of. OH! THAT'S RIGHT! Jarad, Golgari Lich-Lord.

Basically, they took a perfectly serviceable Mythic Rare, and slapped creature types on it that make you think "You know, if I wanted to be a Troll, I could play this JUST for the great TRIBAL and that's already good enough."

Wizards of the Coast is going to do something stupid and awful and make a bunch of people sad in the next few months or year or two. They do that, they can't please us every time.
When the next disaster strikes, I'm going to go back and look at Return to Ravnica block to remind myself, 'you know, SOMETIMES they do things RIGHT! :D'

I used to play this game with the Original Ravnica Block too. :3

Screw Magic, I kinda wanta to just play a DnD campaign set on Ravnica o.O xD

At four mana, he just hits the maximum expected CMC for cards in Jund deck that run Dark Confidant. So, if he's the highest costing creature, you won't be losing any more life.
Life loss. That's the thing about the ability. you can't have to many creatures without some serious deck manipulation (which would probably be Blue/ Black anyway), but your opponents need to as well. Information is just one advantage of this card (along with his impressive body); either he skews all decks towards using lower CMC cards, or he skews it towards you unexpectedly loosing. Sure, flipping an Emrakel is much less likely nowadays, but Gatecrash just has so many tasty new cards that has sufficiently tasteless CMC.
Going further, imagine this-

Phase 1) He is extremely powerful in the format, being a reliable passive win condition.
Phase 2) Burn becomes a common thing/ creature removal becomes very common.
Phase 3) Dimir, Boros and Gruul all suffer as a result (and Golgari, Simic and Rakdos to some extent).
Phase 4) No-creature decks become more common, Azorius laughed at.
Phase 5) The lack of creatures (and creature removal) and abundance of spells renders Hexproof creatures much more common.
Phase 6) Big, Green Hex Proof creatures (maybe with some Reanimate assistance) overpower spell based decks.
Phase 7) Duskmantle Seer creeps back into use.
Phase 8) The guys from Phase 3- Phase 5 sort of 'mix' with the other guys, Duskmantle Seer is vaguely less common.
Phase 9) People move on.
Phase 9.5) Dark Confidant gets a price drop, more use.
Phase 10) Duskmantle Seer becomes much less common as people get somewhat bored of it.
Phase 10.5) Orzhov/ Dimir combo's pwn, just pwn.
Phase 11) Duskmantle Seer only usable in Legacy/ Vintage, outclassed, becomes obscure.

Omnibob.

Definitely one of the greats. Right up there with Consuming Abberation, Mind Grind, Way of the Thief, and Lazav, Dimir Mastermind.

Yeah, unless he's the entire point of your deck, with mill and whatnot, why would you run this?

Okay...wait, I'm still going through the card list. There's a combo somewhere...

Because for years no player has been safe from the hyper-broken, uber-powerful Scornful Egotist.

Even at mythic, this is well worth it to deal with those who run the more-than-a-man.

"I RUN THIS S**T!"

Oh if only he came out in Rise of the Eldrazi. He'd have won so many limited games...

Burned my friend at the prerelease with this. his card wasEnter the Infinite. ouch

Bob: splashable, cheap, good beater, easy to turn off even without a sac outlet, one sided card advantage, one sided life loss.
Seer: restrictive mana cost, mid/high mana cost, good beater, evasive, hard to turn off without a sac outlet, double sided draw, double sided life loss.

Is this bob 2? Not even close. Is it good? I think it has a lot of potential, but not in any format I can think of. Ponder is not really allowed anywhere, except maybe legacy? Brainstorm and Preordain also. Serum Visions and Dimir Charm maybe. In casual, I want a playset when the price drops. I mean, look at him. He's awesome. Moh***n vampire wizard.

Edit: Moroii grew up!

The problem is, we don't get a Sensei's Diving Top, or a Ponder yet... Probably won't until Miracles rotate out of standard.

Looks like Bob was 'touched by the Moroii.

I'm just glad to see a few more vampires that aren't built around the Zendikar/Innistrad archetype, to be honest.

@loudshadow ross: Im guessing your friend is a new player? Cause if he isnt its his own fault for trying to run enter the infinite in limited which is an extremely stupid idea.

This card seems to provide a big potential in the right deck.

He's Dark Confidant with an even more efficient body for his cost, and he comes with a Howling Mine twist.
Only this time, the fact that your opponent gets to draw first might not be that bad, since drawing a response to this might at least end up costing him a couple of life points.

He just doesn't work as nicely with drawing himself than Bob does...unless you give him a Divining Top, that is.

He sees your deck and he does not approve.

@oatbran Ever heard of Dimir Guildmage?

His pose is like he's saying "I'm back, Baby!"

YOU get a Dark Confidant, and YOU get a Dark Confidant, you ALL get a Dark Confidant!

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you would appreciate drawing Emrakul faster. Pity, it was such a thoughtful gift. >;-)

Bob meets Bane.

"CAAAN YOUUU DIG IIIIT??!"

Good card, can have great potential with awesome combos using Totally Lost and Dimir Charm.

The price is outrageous though.
Performance/Price = 2/5.

@Hakkology

Vanishment

If the next set has Fateseal, this thing will be hell to face.

His name is Bill, everyone, don't confuse him with his smaller cousin, Bob.

Personally, I'd rather run Bill than Bob, but that's just me. Going against the grain.

This is pretty cool, Bob is better but this can potentially kill your opponent.
4/5 Stars

Live and let bleed.

His face says: "Game isn't over or interesting? I am disappoint..."

Any comparison to dark confident is unnecessary. Yes cards are revealed, and yes life is lost but otherwise they are completely different. Placed between Geralf Messenger and Obzedat, this gives you the most aggressive esper deck in years.

This card doesn't seem Dimir to me. It goes against discarding, it hurts you, and is a flying tank more than a good unblockable. Don't get me wrong, it's a good card, but it just doesn't seem Dimir. Why couldn't Dimir get a good card to support cipher? Our maybe if it had: when this creature deals damage: reveal the top card of each opponent's library and send it to the graveyard: each player sends cards on top of their decks to the graveyard equal to the highest converted mana cost.

This card really is as strong as when you first glance at it. Seer is crazy. Look at the discussion on Dark Confidant. Many times, it is said that if you are running Bob in a deck with cards that are more than 3 cmc, you are either running heavy deck manipulation or you're an idiot.

With Duskmantle Seer, you are forcing that situation on your opponent. Midrange decks are the norm now, so many cards being heavily used in Standard are above the 3 cmc line. Assuming you build your deck around Seer (with most if not all 3-cmc-and-less spells), Omnibob should burn your opponent a LOT more than he burns you. Not to mention the information gleaned from the opponent's reveal is always useful.

He's hard to "turn off." But at 4-cmc, you're not trying to stick him early. By the time it hits the board, you should be stabilized, or it should stabilize you. And if you cast it when an aggro/burn deck has you down to 3-4 life, that's your prerogative. But you deserve that lethal life loss on the flip.

Finally, Seer is hard to get rid of. Like really hard. It dodges most burn spells (Searing Spear, Pillar of Flame, even non-Standard staples like Lightning Bolt), and most Standard black destruction (Ultimate Price, Victim of Night, and Abrupt Decay). Not to mention, a lot of opponents don't think they want to get rid of him because he gives an extra card. They don't think through the fact that they would be considered, as I said before, an idiot for running Dark Confidant in their deck. Couple that to a 4/4 Flying body?

Duskmantle Seer is really good.

For people saying he doesn't fit discard, you're silly. The fact they get to draw a card and potentially damage themselves with it, and then you can force them to discard it (with something like, say, Mental Vapors). Easily done, and you get to maintain your hand advantage.

Utilize him alongside the Crypt Ghast/Realmwright combo and then it actually makes sense to bring spells like Killing Glare and Syncopate over Murder and Dissipate. Chances are you won't be hurting for mana at that point, and the lower CMC on the cards means you're less likely to ping yourself for anything substantial. The way I see this deck working, you don't have anything with CMC over 4 anyway. Crypt Ghast's extort should keep you afloat from any damage Grumpycat Seer does to you.

One of those cards where everyone is like "ZOMG ITS SOOO GOOD" and then you play a copy, draw something nasty like a Consuming Aberration and hit yourself for tons of damage. Definitely a card to play with cheaper CMC cards.

mindcrank

Incredibly powerful combined with Dimir Charm, manupulate the top of their deck for max dmg or the top of yours for minimum damage. Throw in a few Nightveil Specter s, some counters, kills and draws, and you have yourself a viable UB Control deck.

I never understood why anyone would run Dark Confidant over Phyrexian Arena. But I would run this over Phyrexian Arena in a deck I made to survive this any day. In the right deck it will kill your opponent much faster than it kills you.

First of all, I really like the angle and perspective of the art by Kev Walker. Another distinctive design for the D... guild which shall-not-be-mentioned...

Anyway, art aside, I think this card is stronger than the community rating implies. I think this is caused by three reasons:

1. Duskmantle Seer's draw and spite ability is similar to Dark Confidant, easily one of the strongest cards in modern (if not the strongest). Because of this people instantly compare Duskmantle Seer with the broken Dark Confidant, and because Duskmantle seer both benefits you and your opponent, the card is initially seen to be worse than another card, instantly reducing its popularity.

2. People never like effects which you pay for, but your opponent also benefits from. It makes Duskmantle Seer seem ‘unfun’ to play with a just a bad card.

3. Many players (in particular newer players) don't like life loss and don't understand that it is significantly more important, in competitive game, to have a dominant board position, not to have a greater life total half way through the game. They also don't like the unpredictability of the life loss and don't fully appreciate the importance of card advantage (which to many is seen as the only benefit of the effect on this card).

However, first of all, when reviewing this card, we must consider Duskmantle Seer's power and toughness as a flyer... 4/4! Never has a vanilla flyer (at a 4 mana cost) been printed without a true downside. At 4/4 not only can it bash in for large amounts of direct damage every turn, but trump most flyers seen in the current limited an constructed formats. Restoration angel? No problem. Vendilion Clique? Are you joking? At 4 toughness it is also out of range of common removal such as Selesnya charm and red burn spells. There aren't many situations when Duskmantle Seer can't stand for long enough to bash your opponent in, being awkwardly difficult to kill.

Secondly, his ability should be seen as a strong positive. Sure, to properly utilise it you need the right deck, but even in a makeshift draft of sealed deck, Duskmantle Seer's effect still benefits you more greatly than your opponent.

1. Having the card drawing happening at the beginning of your turns gives you a chance to use the cards drawn first: your mana isn't fully (or partially) tapped out like your opponent but instead you have got at least 5 mana available to spend on any card type you like. Your opponent is also restricted to instants for the moment. It's not until the following turn, once you have likely played your card do they get an opportunity to play theirs; they are consequently behind.

2. Provided the card stays on the battlefield (which is highly likely being difficult to overcome), then it forces your opponents to begin racing with the ability continually sapping at your life totals. This is great against life-gain decks (such as Bant), who have very high mana-cost cards (assuming the game will go long). As long as you have set a gap between your life totals early enough in the game, it will doom your opponents to a premature ending (with their lower life total keeping you out of the end game which is good for aggro decks which will prefer this card). Although blue is generally a control colour, a red-black-blue (Grixis aggro) deck could really benefit from the ability of this card and only using low mana-costed cards in this type of deck will make the life loss from this card less on your side too.

Overall I think this card has been greatly under evaluated. In limited formats, it's a flying bomb, and in the right place in constructed, it could make for a very strong centrepiece in an aggro deck. I, for one, was excited when the card was spoiled, an still am excited for all the possibilities this card holds. This card is nothing like Dark Confidant, but that doesn't mean it isn't still really strong. Any game with this card in play is at its wrath and the board state quickly begins to focus around this card.

4.2/5
- Flying Bomb
- Difficult to kill
- Fits into any Dimir limited deck
- Ability is very strong in aggro constructed decks
- Game centres around this card

- Difficult to apply in an already competitive deck
- Life loss can be risky
- Gives your opponents card advantage

Ah yes, the almighty "Big Bob", "Omnibob", "whatever-Bob". The Duskmantle Seer...

Very much a Dimir card. All the guilds of Ravnica have their own way to will themselves to power; Orzhov with money, Azorius with the law, Boros with organized military force, etc. Dimir gains power through secrets, and this card fits perfectly with that idea. With the Seer, the secrets you hold in your deck, that big creature or enchantment, becomes powerful for YOU. So what if maybe your opponent is getting their giant creature in their hand from the Seer. Chances are you are hurting them with that creature more then they will hurt you. And that doesn't even begin to mention the fact that this guy is a 4/4 flyer for a fairly efficient cost.

He has two issues. The first issue with the Seer is that even though he fits the ethos of Dimir, he doesn't fit the way that the designers of Dimir want you to play Dimir. Dimir is often seen as the "mill" guild, and in standard right now there are Dimir cards and blue cards that let you mill someone out incredibly fast. If you are playing the Seer, you don't want to mill because you want your opponent to draw the cards. What good are those fatties to the Seer if they're in your opponent's graveyard?

The second issue is that you truly have to build a deck around this guy that will not bite you as much as it will bite your opponent. Absolutely nothing in your deck can cost more then three mana other then your Seers. Throw that with the fact that it isn't a splashable card at all, you really have to make a serious effort to make a deck around this card. Make it work right, however, and you will reap the rewards.

Fun card but fiddly. Have fun, and everyone get some Bob.

Bob with wings ? Sign me up.

His mouth is the gatecrash set symbol.

After using this card in my standard death fed, I can say the loss of life is not too big of a deal for me. Once this guy hits the battlefield, the game is very close to ending (every time I play him, I win about 2 turns later), simply because he gets you what you may need at the time and he also helps you deal damage to them in the air as well as from their library. I also love it because I get to see exactly what they have drawn, so I can prepare myself on my turn for the counter spell / bomb / board wipe they might have ready for their turn!

In short, this guy is INCREDIBLE! (So long as you can get more damage on them than you are being dealt by your grumpy little guy)

5/5: For being a game changer and also for the grumpy cat reference (intentional or not)

Might be weird.... but I think he fits well with Sire of Insanity. Why??

This card let each player draw at the beginning Your turn....
Sire of Insanity forces everyone to discard at the end of Each endstep...

In other words, you get to draw two cards at the beginning of your turn...while your opponent doesn't... Pretty good combo...

Too bad this doesn't combo with notion thief. Make your opponents' lose and then draw a bunch of cards as well as see what they are drawing. In order for that to work this would have to be worded 'each player reveals the top card of their library, loses life equal to its mana cost, then draws a card'. Would have been a funny combo.

I like Ike38's combo with sire of insanity. Seems pretty good.

Noxious Revival and a discard shell make this guys ability suddenly not so big of a downside...

good card. I side board him for potential green players...oh the joy of their faces when a card like worldspine wurm or something bigger is revealed....

IT'S BATMAN!

@thencomesdudley: Time Ebb is a sorcery, and this triggers during your upkeep. At best, Time Ebb can help you force big damage if you already know what's on top of their library. Griptide does what you want, but Dimir Charm is a better option.

@Jhyrryl: balls, you're right. For some reason I completely misread the rules text & thought it triggered at the beginning of EACH upkeep. Dimir Charm is a much better option; Griptide is way overcosted.

I am excited to see how he interacts with scry. It can go poorly if your opponent is scry heavy, but I want to see this guy work

This card is really underrated. I had him as the finisher in a Standard Aggro deck that played green for Strangleroot Geist, Young Wolf, and Rancor, and as soon as he hits the field either he eats removal or ends the game in a couple of turns. Definitely powerful, but easy to misuse and difficult to understand the power of without running him in a deck properly built for him. With all of the Scry cards coming with Theros (Thassa in particular), I anticipate that this guy will see at least some play.

well one thing i remember is seeing this at 20$ everywhere at the time of the release
thank god i didn't fall for it, it's now at 1,8$, maybe less

anyway, for the card, the drawing is the best part really

shouldn't be mythic

The doors swung wide open with a violent bang, and a dank mist swiftly seeped into the now silent room. The members of House Dimir stared upwards in terrified, quiet awe at the ancient vampire who so suddenly burst in. Gazing at the mass of thieves, assassins, occultists and shapeshifters with superiority matched only by severity, his eyes ablaze with flames colder than a dying star's heart, the powerful, undead sorcerer bellowed:

"WHO KEEPS STEALING MY LUNCH?"

..."and I get a... Blightsteel Colossus"

Amazing design for blue/black. It makes stacking your deck even more powerful (blue) and gives your sorcery speed discard spells power later in the game game (black). Definitely way better than if each player drew during their upkeep.
I love how it accomplishes being both blue and black while not having a stereotypical dimir ability. Not everyone who runs blue/black wants to be playing a mill deck. I also love how it extends the black mentality of "power at any cost" to affect your opponents as well. They have to scramble to make sure that cost doesnt kill them.

Once I noticed that my Dimir deck has no source of lifegain other than 3 or 4 copies of Crypt Incursion and that drawing my Enter the Infinite this way would hurt, I could no longer justify having this card in my Dimir deck.

when you put this card in your own deck you account for it and build around it and most ppl today like big monsters in their deck so when their own storm breat dragon pings them for 5 dmg and cant swing in because he is just as big he doesnt seem so bad i see him more as a way of punishing people who play more midrangish decks id swap him out usually against aggro but sometimes that 4/4 for 4 does a lot of work honestly my favorite mythic from this set

I'm actually thinking this guy will find a nice place in my Dimir hand flood deck now that Journey into Nyx is coming out.
This guy, plus Fate Unraveler, plus Master of the Feast, on top of Dictate of Kruphix and just maybe even Whispering Madness (and a Duskmantle Guildmage for those Junk Delver decks) throw in heavy bounce with Cyclonic Rift and even Whelming Wave, and this guy's downside stops looking like a downside. They pull a bomb, they take a hit, they pull a land... Who cares? They'll probably have to discard it with all the card draw going on.

The trick with him that I see, is that he needs to be the most expensive card in your deck. Heavy card draw favors the cheap deck, that can play everything.