Turn six, your 4/5 flier hits the board. A
decent size, but not too impressive at that
stage in the game, though the flying should help
keep it from having to intercept the biggest
stuff. Turn seven, you swing for four in the
air. Not bad. Finally, on turn eight, you untap
and have a chance at getting a free permanent. A
*chance*. It's a cool effect, but it just
happens so late. As big fliers go, Arbiter isn't
that fearsome in combat, and the odds are good
that she's just giving you an extra land (which
you likely don't need since you already cast the
Arbiter-- how high does your mana curve go?)
Honestly, if this had smaller, it would have
been much more effective. I suppose it makes a
good combo with all the Scry in the format, but
it's still the province of casual players only--
tournament games of any format are likely to be
over before this starts paying dividends.
So, there have been a few variants on Future
Sight in recent sets, not just in blue. I know
that that kind of ability looks quirky and
intriguing to a lot of players, but I'm a little
surprised Wizards of the Coast thinks it's
"safe", as they put it, to make it so prominent.
I mean, it's only one extra card a turn, but not
only does that add up surprisingly fast, there
are so many abilities that trigger when
something comes into play or reward you for
controlling more cards (wasn't there a recent
mechanic in some recent block that likes having
mana costs in play? Hmm). And besides, most
Future Sight variants don't attack for four
damage.
For the end of the "History of Sphinxes" week,
I'd like to point out an interesting little
fact. There are 31 creatures with the type
Sphinx in Magic. There are no sets with Egyptian
mythology themes.
Today's card of the day is Arbiter of the Ideal
which is a six mana Blue
4/5 with Flying and Inspired that whenever it
becomes untapped you reveal the top card of your
library and if it is an artifact, creature, or
land you may put it into the battlefield and it
is also an enchantment. This is a very
solid effect that is best supported with effects
to tap and untap Arbiter or some form of
protection such as Hexproof or unblockable to
reduce an opponent's options for destroying it.
The cost is a bit high for competitive play
outside of control, but the untap requirement
doesn't mesh well with most control themes.
Overall a card that will likely see play in
Casual or Multiplayer for the excellent Inspired
effect, though the low speed for an aggressive
creature should keep it out of other Constructed
formats.
In Limited this is a clear first pick and top
consideration when selecting base colors in
Sealed as a six mana 4/5 evasive that puts
additional cards into play is about as good as
it gets. This card can and will win games
and there is no drawback in the format, though
effects to help arrange the top of the library
to maximize the Inspired are certainly
beneficial.
