I guess they added the "from your hand" part, to avoid combos with cards such as soul foundry, that would result in you having any number of such tokens on the battlefield.
Flyheight
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Curse you "If you cast it from your hand" clause! Curse You! =p
pandawolf56
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Scion of Vitu-Ghazi is ok for standard if you run a token deck. The populate ability makes this card great for token decks. Other than that, not too interesting. Ok for draft. 3/5.
L2i0n0k7
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
I wish they had used "if it isn't a token" instead of "if you cast it from your hand" as the clause to prevent making infinite creatures with something like Cackling Counterpart. It would have let you still have fun with Cloudshift and friends.
.Blaze.
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
About as good as Geist-Honored Monk. Would be fun if he could populate a token copy of himself, but that would also be stupid.
Tybaltic
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
A good body and effect for the mana cost.
A two-for-one especially if you're running stuff like Wayfaring Temple and Trostani's Summoner and you care more about quantity than quality.
James_Kernaghan
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
John Woo's favourite card.
psychichobo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
This is rare? Really?
Man, I hope wizards aren't going down the 'Draft fodder rares' route. It's good and all, but not... great, ya know? Could've been uncommon.
Majinkajisan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hob? Is that you?
Cyberium
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
You CAN populate any token, not just the bird you created. Cast this after Advent of the Wurm, for example, suits the mana curve nicely.
bowlofgumbo
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I don't understand how people fail to understand why this is rare, this guy is going to be nuts in draft. Worst case scenario he's a double seller of songbirds of crack and if you're getting a 2/2 Knight, a 3/3 Centaur or a maybe that 5/5 Wurm off his populate then it's next level value :P
Nagoragama
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Not sure why they needed to hamstring it with the "if you cast it from your hand" clause, since even if you could have reanimated it, it still wouldn't be great. As is it will only see play in Limited, where it is quite good.
If this didn't have to 'if you cast it from your hand' clause, you could infinite with it too easily. In current standard, just casting cackling counterpart would make it go infinite (if it didn't have the clause).
I do agree that his could have maybe been an uncommon since it doesn't do anything spectacular, but it is definitely a strong card. 5 mana for 6 power, and that's assuming there wasn't anything cooler to populate.
The art is amazing too.
Combofriend
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Plenty of creature advantage even on its own without angel tokens or anything wack like that even Bette when there is! 4/5
TowerDefender
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nice after a board wipe, or to help rebuild Battalion.
Mode
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"I guess they added the "from your hand" part, to avoid combos with cards such as Soul Foundry, that would result in you having any number of such tokens on the battlefield." —majinara
Yeah, they clearly did that since they saw the easy abuse ad infinitum with token copy effects.
It's okay that they didn't want to take the risk. However, they should still have worded it differently, as the restriction they chose also made it worse in conjunction with other effects that don't intend to abuse it (i.e. any effect that puts the original card onto the battlefield).
It should have been something like:
"When Scion of Vitu-Ghazi enters the battlefield, put a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying onto the battlefield. If Scion of Vitu-Ghazi is not a token, populate."
I still consider a restriction unnecessary overall, however. This is a 5 mana card. Infinity combos across two turns with it (that can be disrupted) shouldn't be that game-breaking.
There are better Splinter Twin targets for instance, which is another card that works with it and a famous example for combo decks.
Comments (19)
A two-for-one especially if you're running stuff like Wayfaring Temple and Trostani's Summoner and you care more about quantity than quality.
Man, I hope wizards aren't going down the 'Draft fodder rares' route. It's good and all, but not... great, ya know? Could've been uncommon.
ALMOST.
Uncounterable Populate. *Maniacal laughter*
I do agree that his could have maybe been an uncommon since it doesn't do anything spectacular, but it is definitely a strong card. 5 mana for 6 power, and that's assuming there wasn't anything cooler to populate.
The art is amazing too.
Yeah, they clearly did that since they saw the easy abuse ad infinitum with token copy effects.
It's okay that they didn't want to take the risk.
However, they should still have worded it differently, as the restriction they chose also made it worse in conjunction with other effects that don't intend to abuse it (i.e. any effect that puts the original card onto the battlefield).
It should have been something like:
"When Scion of Vitu-Ghazi enters the battlefield, put a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
If Scion of Vitu-Ghazi is not a token, populate."
I still consider a restriction unnecessary overall, however. This is a 5 mana card.
Infinity combos across two turns with it (that can be disrupted) shouldn't be that game-breaking.
There are better Splinter Twin targets for instance,
which is another card that works with it and a famous example for combo decks.