Pointed Discussion

What's the term opposite of powercreep?
Well, whatever it is, this is it.

Anyone remember the show Gargoyles? This totally looks like Lexington the little one with the armpit glider wings :D

I used to have a recurring nightmarish dream as a kid that involved gargoyles that looked JUST like this guy outside of my windows.

We just got Primal Clay which does this and much more. Why couldn't they at least add something to this to make it more than a desperate limited flier.

Another bland Ravnican artifact. Move on to the next card.

Not bad if you want consistency running 3 plus colors, but otherwise, meh.

I can't complain really.
I remember Vassal Soul being a decent problem in RtR limited, so having one that doesn't need to worry about mana-costs isn't going to go last pick.

It IS only used for limited fodder, though. Don't think about playing it in any other format.

Too bad it wasn't a 2/3, it would wall more fliers, and it could slip into a random heartless summoning deck.

This reminds me of an oldschool artifact. A little more expensive than it should be, but you never have to worry about colored mana. Classic, however not really useful outside of limited.

Too bad this is the only Gargoyle in Gatecrash. I was under the impression there would be more, considering the Orzhov guild is in this set. No excuses, Wizards, we all saw the Orzhov gargoyles in Shrieking Affliction

@Dabok - maybe it could be coined as Gargoyle-ing? Millenniation?

seriously, I would rather have them include a card I could keep track of life totals on than see this in a pack

Exactly fair for a common artifact. Nothing fancy to see here. Draft it and put it in your sealed deck, otherwise ignore it.
Limited fodder. And that's not a complaint. I like limited filler.

Not completely terrible... if you're really desperate for a flyer, 4-drop, or 2/2 in limited if you get stuck with a weak pool. ...Yeah okay, I guess that's weak huh.

This card is all flavor. I can't seem to figure out a good use for him in the actual game though. I feel like he should have had at least 1 more toughness and costed 1 less.

Millennial Gargoyle, you're 13 years late. It's 2013 now, not 2000.

This would have been bad in 1994. Primal Clay is strictly better.

@azure_drake222222: 12 years late. The millennium started in 2001.

I've gotten like three of these in boosters and each time all I can think is "wow, this is the worst card I've seen in this set." So overcosted for so little usability.

Some bits fell off a Lumengrid Gargoyle. Sadly they weren't the bits that sucked.

How bad is this?
Skinwing is almost strictly better.
THAT'S how bad this card is.

Guys, this card isn't so bad. I mean, it can defeat a Storm Crow ...

Between this and Lumengrid Gargoyle, we should be seeing a 3/3 flying artifact creature someday. The only question is: would it be common?

I think this is somewhat underrated, it's not great but being colourless you can play it in any deck, and it is flying. That's flexible in draft and worthwhile taking to pack out your creatures, but only in limited. You won't see this being used elsewhere.

Primal Clay is an uncommon. And they are both Artifacts. that actually matters. Primal Clay would honestly make a fair rare, although it would on the low end for rares. Primal Clay at uncommon AND colorless is pretty far above the usual curves actually. It's definitely an "A+" card among uncommons.

I think Gatherer tends to grade cards all wonky- it has to be at least an A+ in Limited or you don't even give it 3 stars. NOT EVERY CARD CAN BE A+! Your game that you love so much would die a horrible death if the next set, they released only cards that are A+ in Limited or better. It would obsolete every common that previously existed, would kill most desires for reprints, enough so that to please the people that still want them, it wouldn't be profitable enough for Wizards to do because not enough would exist, and a big piece of the Market would crash, and that would deflate the rares, and then you have Power Creep and a Market Crash, and NOBODY is happy AT ALL. Better, much better, **extraordinarily safer** to Design Commons for Limited and confuse everyone that can't grasp the difference between Limited, Commander, Standard FNM, and Modern Grand Prix than to have that happen.

Among COMMONS, Development actually feels Wind Drake is an "A" card, on a rough 3-letter A, B, C scale. I think that "A" can therefore be translated as "truly playable in limited, a relevant quality like evasion or removal for a mana cost that's not outrageous". Now maybe I'd rate Wind Drake a B card, not an A card, but since the Limited Environment of a Core Set is going to be different than for an Expert Expansion, I could see the case for it being an A- card in a cute WU-Fliers 'Let's Learn to Play Magic' Deck. Which is exactly what Core Set Limited is supposed to feel like.

An "A" for a common HAS to use a different power scale than an "A" for Rares, or else you might as well not have Rarity for any reason other than money. Sure, as a business, money is certainly a factor to WOTC, but they actually give Prize Support for the Limited Format, giving the "Bad" Commons actual reasons to exist while preserving the Rares from the Entropy of over-accelerated Power Creep. At the same time. WOTC is a lot smarter than most people would believe. :P And they work hard.

http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/238

You should all look at today's Development Column. this card is both Common and Colorless, which means 4 mana for a 2/2 is like exactly a Wind Drake, practically. This is fine card to exist in the Limited Format, and further, if they did not deliberately make sure that Limited was a Weaker format than Constructed, then Limited would be silly enough, but Power Creep would start becoming Power HyperInflation and it would be a very nasty Standard where you get colorless 2/2 fliers for 3 mana, and your ACTUAL Blue Fliers you'd pick would be, like Serendib Efreets and Delver of Secrets MORE TIMES than NOT, and THEN you would have a Standard format where because so many of the Blue Fliers are getting so good, Blue become the creature color.

This is why Gargoyles Must Suck for the sake of Magic. So that Blue can be kept away from being the Creature Color. Gargoyles are bland Colorless Fliers, but what they are allowed to do effects what Blue Fliers are allowed to do, and it is actually a very serious question to ask: "What are Blue Fliers allowed to do?" You think Baneslayer Angel was bad in its day? Wait until the Consecrated Sphinxes of the world start being better Fighters than the Angels, on top of having nuts-busted abilities. It sounds like crazy-talk, but if this card were any better, and was still common, it would actually mean Power Creep right in the design space that is most likely to ruin Magic. Both Serendib Efreet and Delver of Secrets are legitimately much scarier than Wild Nacatl or Kird Ape so I, FOR ONE, do not wish for Artifacts to ever have better than Wind Drakes, ALTHOUGH I DO enjoy it when Blue gets fliers that are at least somewhat better than that. :)

If this card is put into the Core Set, Wind Drake should have an uncommon buddy that is a better card than himself sitting next to him, to show that Wind Drake is how we evaluate what Artifacts should be allowed, but Blue is allowed to do better than that at higher rarities.

Strictly worse than Primal Clay.

Worse than Tin-Wing Chimera.

This card is pretty good in Gatecrash limited. It's evasive, so it is perfect for Cipher. It's also a pretty reliable attacker for Battalion. Its evasion also means that it can be bloodrushed nicely to finish off an opponent.

Not every card is meant for the Pro Tour top 8.

Pretty much the epitome of a 23rd card. You'll run it because you haven't got enough cards and/or need a flyer, but that's about it.