|
|
 |
|
Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
|
Serum Visions - {U}
Sorcery
Draw a card.
Scry 2 (Look at the top two cards of your library.
Put any number of them on the bottom of your
library and the rest on top in any order.)
36/165
Common |
|
Serum
Visions
Fifth Dawn Common
Reviewed May 5, 2004
Constructed: 2.9
Casual: 2.1
Limited: 2.9
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
Click here to see all
our
Card of the Day Reviews
|
|
Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut |
Draw and sift is
pretty darn decent. If this was an instant,
it would be the most amazing thing since white
bread. But being sorcery speed is a
drawback. You HAVE to use it during your
turn, and you can't save your mana for a "just in
case" scenario, which is something that blue
REALLY likes to do. Blue is all about
instant speed stuff and control at all
times...spending mana during their turn doesn't
fit well in these plans.
Serum Visions is not a
casual players card, lacking the pizzazz needed to
attract casual players.
In limited, this might
be a decent smoother, and I would consider a spot
for it if I were going blue.
Constructed:
3.5
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 3
|
|
Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
|
Serum Visions
I've already had a
rules question asked to me about this card - do
you draw first, or do you scry first. We'll have
to wait for the FAQ to see, but my guess is that
you will draw first and then scry, as the draw
is listed on the card before the scry effect.
People played Opt
when this was type 2 legal. Think of this as an
Opt, only instead of getting to reject a card
before you draw, you can reject either of your
next 2 draws after that. This will see a lot of
play in any deck that plays blue for card
drawing.
In casual, this just
isn't that exciting for me to think this will
make a difference.
In limited, I tend
to shy away from card draw, and this is no
exception. I wouldn't play this unless I had too
few playables.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 2
Limited: 2
|
Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Serum Visions
Serum Visions is our
first introduction to the Scry mechanic in our
Card of the Day segment. In general, this card
just cycles for U and makes your deck smaller. If
you use Scry, it gets you two cards deeper as
well. But in general, this card seems worse than
Thirst for Knowledge. I can see some use for it in
limited, but not in the current constructed
environment.
Constructed:
1
Casual:
2
Limited:
3
|
Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Serum Visions
We get our first look at the Scry mechanic with
what appears to be a very cheap card-drawer that
helps you look deeper in the deck; it reminds me a
little of Sleight of Mind, but a tad bit better.
If we get back to having some more normal decks in
standard, we might actually see this card get
play…it won’t happen until something shows up that
helps make blue good again, though.
I’d call this a pretty solid improvement over a
lot of the cheap blue card-drawers available in
the past. While Impulse might be a little better,
this is certainly going to catch eyes, if for no
other reason than it is easily available. It’s
certainly a solid play for Mental Magic, though it
joins a really large group of solid U cards.
I’d simply look at this as another cheap cantrip
to help run affinity decks by keeping your
land-count down. Certainly, while Spellbombs have
been the preferred choice of people to move
through your deck, this can also work in a pinch;
it’s decent filler, if nothing else, and
especially good if you have bombs that you want to
dig for.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3.0
|
Jason
Matthews
* Level 1 DCI
Judge
*game store employee
* gaming for over 15 years |
Serum Visions This
card seems to be a mid range card as far as its
quality. I have never been real fond of cards that
only draw you one card. Luckily this card adds in
the Scry mechanic. Knowing the order of the next
two cards or being able to get rid of the next two
dead cards is a really good ability. In draft and
sealed this card is good enough to make the deck.
I would probably rate it at about sixth to seventh
pick. The fact that it is in the common slot also
means that multiples in a draft deck is not
improbable. In casual play I would rate several
card above this, most notably Brainstorm. It may
not be a perfect replacement for Brainstorm but it
is a nice try. In constructed it just might see
play if a good blue deck is made feasible with the
addition of Fifth Dawn. The most unfortunate part
of this card is that was made a sorcery and
traditionally blue need that instant speed card
draw to more effective.
Constructed 2.5
Casual 2.5
Limited 3
|
|
DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX) |
Come on. We have to
know that this is good. Impulse was good.
Brainstorm was good. Peek even got played. So
I'm pretty sure that any card able to replace
itself and set up your next couple of turns is
good as well.
However, casual
players may not care too much about this card.
It doesn't offer anything to any interesting
decks or strategies.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 3
|
|
Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
Level 2 Judge |
Serum Visions
Nope. This card is not Impulse, its not
Brainstorm, its not even as good as
a half dozen other blue cards from the past that
let you simply look and
rearrange some cards from the top of your library.
The Scry mechanic might
be interesting. I'll admit I don't know exactly
how this card works. If you
get to manipulate the cards first using the Scry
mechanic, THEN draw a card,
I would play this card in limited decks
occasionally. For grading purposes,
I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. If you draw
the card first, then
manipulate the NEXT two cards of your library,
this is the worst card ever.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.0
CASUAL: 3.0
LIMITED: 3.5 |
|
Andy
Van Zandt |
Serum Visions
It's not brainstorm, but it is better than opt or
slight of hand. Not much
to say besides that... and it lets you set up a
draco explosion.
constructed 3
casual 2.5
limited 3
|
|
Chase
Secret Squirrel
on the
Pojo.com
Message
Boards |
Serum VisionsA
very, very toned down Brainstorm, if you want to
think of it that way. It’s hard to say how this
will do… there’s already blue card drawing so I
don’t see this being that good. I guess in draft
it’s better because it gets rid of cards you
don’t want without decking yourself. 1 card for
1 isn’t something to write home about for
constructed.
In limited, as I explained above, you get a
card, and throw away cards you don’t need but
don’t come that close to decking yourself. It’s
fairly good for blue.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 3
Limited: 4
|
Jason
Chapman |
I suspect Scrying is
an alternate ability, like Cycling, but it may be
an additional ability, like Kicker. Either way,
Serum Visions just isn't great. As a Blue player,
I prefer Instant speed drawing and this card is a
Sorcery. That really sets a limit on how good the
card can be. Also, a 1:1 ratio just isn't very
good. Don't get me wrong deck manipulation is
always good but this isn't equal to Impulse,
Brainstorm, or Opt. The card does get better,
however, if Scrying is an additional ability
instead of an alternate ability.
Constructed - the
Scrying is more useful than the Draw but it is
okay - 2.0
Casual - Just not a
powerful ability for casual - 1.5
Limited - It could
be a low pick for Scrying - 1.5 |
|
