One of the worst reprints of the set. Doesn't see play in Modern, and they INCREASED its rarity so that it's a junk rare now. I don't see the logic behind this in any way, shape, or form. .5/5. I'll rate the other version a 3/5 because that's what the card deserves, but this version is a mockery of a competitive format.
flavioal28
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(7 votes)
I have a terrible nightmare where I open a Modern Masters box and this is in all of my rare slots...
Nikeyeia
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
It's a decent card, and playable in specific strategies at the kitchen table. People tend to forget, that just because MM is a promotional set, it doesn't mean every rare should be more valueable than the booster itself.
3.5/5
Mode
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"(...) just because MM is a promotional set, it doesn't mean every rare should be more valueable than the booster itself."
@Nikeyeia True, but a promotional set doesn't need artifical junk rares nonetheless.
Artificial junk rare. Hah.
That's actually quite accurate when you consider what it does.
Nonetheless, this should have stayed an Uncommon that's handling artificial junk.
It's an okay card with some combo potential, but nothing i could think of that has potential in Modern. By itself, it's just an expensive creature.
(Since i rate cards by use in any format, which means the best potential i could think of, I'll give it what i gave it back then in Mirrodin - 3/5.)
I am skeptical about it's casting cost, but I am sure WOTC carefully drafted the Set. And carefully weighed other conditions, like 'what message does this send about future Core Sets?'
This guy IS a kind of jank Rare, BUT, I think considering that his activation cost is very low, and has a lot of potential, it is maybe what Stoneforge Mystic should have been.
If you lower his CMC by 1 or 2, but keep all his stats the exact same, how much does that change your opinion?
OBVIOUSLY lowering CMC is going to make every card better, but Some things that show up in Rules Text boxes -can't- be allowed unedited or without rarity shifts or whatever. This guy's rules text box is actually very attractive, which is not something every card can say. Some cards, lowering mana cost or raising mana cost doesn't do enough to fix their brokenness or enough to make them good.
MM isn't just for Spike, people.
MM is supposed to be, like, practically a Core Set for Commander.
It's for first-time players, and it's for Commander players, and it's for 'heavily enfranchised' players that will know why Arcbound Ravager is good and Tarmogoyf is good, and also know why Ryusei is 'bad', but IS 'fun'. AND it's for Draft. Oh and the presale boxes on the internet have to be not stupid or else it defeats the purpose: to put product in the hands of more players than hoarders and to promote active playing of a format.
That's a lot of demands frankly on MM, and I don't think they made this a Rare without considering every possible consequence of making it uncommon and every possible consequence of Stuffing this set with "Too Much of a Good Thing." I'm glad Ryusei is a Mythic. I'm more skeptical that this Is a rare, but it makes some sense bc I don't think this would be an uncommon in a normal set.
You know Tarmogoyf is the least Mythic card in the set? He's a big vanilla fatty with no Trample. Bob at least is a 'character', a Bad Ass Evil Person. He's got some real flavor going on. If Goyf is a Mythic, why isn't Ravager? A lot of these decisions don't make sense without looking at more holistic factors.
I consider the possibility of this being a Rare to be one of the costs of being able to get Arcbound Ravager as a Rare. :)
SkyknightXi
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Considering that Limited was one of the main concerns, I have a hunch this being rare has a lot to do with such things as Lotus Bloom (CMC 0) also being in the set.
He might be pretty underwhelming at first glance, but he's a huge combo enabler, allowing for reuse of creatures, repeat draw, burn, removal, bounce, etc. And all of this is very much possible with the use of a handful of commons. From a drafting standpoint, this guy turns a pile of commons into a pile of gems. A reusable spellbomb/capsule is the BEST kind of spellbomb/capsule.
Not to mention he's a solid beatstick that requires no tapping, so he can attack or block when necessary.
Still, would rather get Jhoira...
Half-dead
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy isnt bad, still have 4 of them in a BW deck that can really abuse some cards, however I think its power level might not be good for modern, I dont play modern but I think he should cost 2 less to make it as a rare here, they should have put some other really rare card in white instead.
Gcrudaplaneswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
After I opened a $.50 one of these in a pack I paid $11 for, I wanted to slap someone. And THEN I found out they increased the rarity? WTF. Will this be stupidly broken in draft at uncommon? What are the chances someone will draft this and Lotus Bloom? Not too likely.
djh119
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Drafted him in my artifact affinity deck with three Æther Spellbombs ...made them last 20 minutes longer on average
SyntheticDreamer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Eh, it lets you reuse Lotus Bloom in draft. It's okay, but not great.
Ferlord
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm going to make this quick and easy to understand.
This set was made for Drafting or Limited.
If you draft this and any of the other low-cost common/uncommon artifacts (Pyrite Spellbomb and Executioner's Capsule particularly), you'd have a continuous means of destroying creatures and/or dealing damage. In limited, that is beyond amazing. Your opponent has to somehow exile the artifact and also kill the Salvager.
If this was uncommon, drafts would become one-sided. Even though drafting some huge rare is also one-sided, you can usually only get 1 of that card. I've seen people (myself included) drafting 3-4 of the same uncommons. That's just amazing.
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is the problem with modern masters.
Your rare could be $100, or it could be $0.50.
I like the idea of the set and it definitely brought great accessibility to some really good old cards, but you can get screwed really badly. It's all or nothing. Not enough middle ground (at least for the rare slot).
Anyways, this card is still cool, and it would definitely break drafts if it was still uncommon.
3.5/5
psychichobo
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Hmm... it's possible he did some nasty stuff back in the day, or could've done had Affinity not gone nuts. I can see him doing terrible, terrible things with the right artifacts, so let's just think on that. For example, Ratchet Bomb? Any of the ten spellbombs?
And artifact creatures... oh. I get it. He turns Memnite and Ornithopter into Reassembling Skeleton and his flying buddy. Huh...
He's actually quite powerful. I wonder what his current price is...
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Proof that I can somehow love a card at uncommon and hate it at rare... even though it's just a cosmetic difference.
ParallaxtheRevan
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Gatherer Community: "Why is this a Rare?"
Auriok Salvagers himself: "So...I just won the Largest Tournament in History. Why aren't I a Mythic?"
Comments (17)
3.5/5
@Nikeyeia
True, but a promotional set doesn't need artifical junk rares nonetheless.
Artificial junk rare.
Hah.
That's actually quite accurate when you consider what it does.
Nonetheless, this should have stayed an Uncommon that's handling artificial junk.
It's an okay card with some combo potential, but nothing i could think of that has potential in Modern.
By itself, it's just an expensive creature.
(Since i rate cards by use in any format, which means the best potential i could think of,
I'll give it what i gave it back then in Mirrodin - 3/5.)
Field Marshal
Mirror Entity
Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Preeminent Captain
Paladin en-Vec
Emeria Angel
Squadron Hawk (with new art)
Serra Avenger
Mirran Crusader
Weathered Wayfarer
World Queller
Serra Ascendant
and many more
I am skeptical about it's casting cost, but I am sure WOTC carefully drafted the Set. And carefully weighed other conditions, like 'what message does this send about future Core Sets?'
This guy IS a kind of jank Rare, BUT, I think considering that his activation cost is very low, and has a lot of potential, it is maybe what Stoneforge Mystic should have been.
If you lower his CMC by 1 or 2, but keep all his stats the exact same, how much does that change your opinion?
OBVIOUSLY lowering CMC is going to make every card better, but Some things that show up in Rules Text boxes -can't- be allowed unedited or without rarity shifts or whatever. This guy's rules text box is actually very attractive, which is not something every card can say. Some cards, lowering mana cost or raising mana cost doesn't do enough to fix their brokenness or enough to make them good.
MM isn't just for Spike, people.
MM is supposed to be, like, practically a Core Set for Commander.
It's for first-time players, and it's for Commander players, and it's for 'heavily enfranchised' players that will know why Arcbound Ravager is good and Tarmogoyf is good, and also know why Ryusei is 'bad', but IS 'fun'. AND it's for Draft. Oh and the presale boxes on the internet have to be not stupid or else it defeats the purpose: to put product in the hands of more players than hoarders and to promote active playing of a format.
That's a lot of demands frankly on MM, and I don't think they made this a Rare without considering every possible consequence of making it uncommon and every possible consequence of Stuffing this set with "Too Much of a Good Thing."
I'm glad Ryusei is a Mythic.
I'm more skeptical that this Is a rare, but it makes some sense bc I don't think this would be an uncommon in a normal set.
You know Tarmogoyf is the least Mythic card in the set? He's a big vanilla fatty with no Trample. Bob at least is a 'character', a Bad Ass Evil Person. He's got some real flavor going on. If Goyf is a Mythic, why isn't Ravager? A lot of these decisions don't make sense without looking at more holistic factors.
I consider the possibility of this being a Rare to be one of the costs of being able to get Arcbound Ravager as a Rare. :)
Court Homunculus
Dispeller's Capsule
Executioner's Capsule
Aether Spellbomb
Aether Vial
Arcbound Worker
Bonesplitter
Chalice of the Void
Engineered Explosives
Lotus Bloom
Paradise Mantle
Pyrite Spellbomb
Relic of Progenitus
Runed Stalactite
He might be pretty underwhelming at first glance, but he's a huge combo enabler, allowing for reuse of creatures, repeat draw, burn, removal, bounce, etc. And all of this is very much possible with the use of a handful of commons. From a drafting standpoint, this guy turns a pile of commons into a pile of gems. A reusable spellbomb/capsule is the BEST kind of spellbomb/capsule.
Not to mention he's a solid beatstick that requires no tapping, so he can attack or block when necessary.
Still, would rather get Jhoira...
This set was made for Drafting or Limited.
If you draft this and any of the other low-cost common/uncommon artifacts (Pyrite Spellbomb and Executioner's Capsule particularly), you'd have a continuous means of destroying creatures and/or dealing damage. In limited, that is beyond amazing. Your opponent has to somehow exile the artifact and also kill the Salvager.
If this was uncommon, drafts would become one-sided. Even though drafting some huge rare is also one-sided, you can usually only get 1 of that card. I've seen people (myself included) drafting 3-4 of the same uncommons. That's just amazing.
Your rare could be $100, or it could be $0.50.
I like the idea of the set and it definitely brought great accessibility to some really good old cards, but you can get screwed really badly. It's all or nothing. Not enough middle ground (at least for the rare slot).
Anyways, this card is still cool, and it would definitely break drafts if it was still uncommon.
3.5/5
And artifact creatures... oh. I get it. He turns Memnite and Ornithopter into Reassembling Skeleton and his flying buddy. Huh...
He's actually quite powerful. I wonder what his current price is...
Auriok Salvagers himself: "So...I just won the Largest Tournament in History. Why aren't I a Mythic?"
http://wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpveg13/welcome
A word to the unwise today, that they may be wiser tomorrow: Don't. ever. ***. with Bonesplitter. o.O