Harbinger of the Tides...what is life?

Unknown

For those fortunate enough to never run into this (or unfortunate enough to never get this card) here are the details:

Harbinger of the Tides (Rare, Blue) (10)
Creature - Attacker
6/6
When it enters the battlefield, choose a creature your opponent controls, it is returned to his hand and costs 9 more.

So this card is so broken in every aspect that I wanted to go over each bolded part in turn, EACH of which would make it cost more than 10.

• 6/6 for 10 mana - Straight out of the gate, a 6/6 for 10 is outstanding, and is top of the line for mana efficiency. This in itself doesn't make this card overpowered, but a 6/6 for 10 with no other effects is already a fantastic card that I would put in my deck without question.
• Bounce - Choosing a bounce makes it much, much better than "first creature". So this is already pretty good, but to be fair it is on par with any other bounce. Lets compare it to our baseline bounce creature, Separatist Voidmage, a 2/2 for bounce for the same cost. From that, we can deduce generally that since a 2/2 is usually between 4-6 mana, a bounce costs a premium of 4 mana or so. His bounce also makes the card gain 6 mana, instead of cost 9 more...yea. This puts our creature already at a baseline cost for 14. I'd play the hell out of this card for 14.
• It costs 9 more - What...the...****. How? And WHY? Assuming they ever cast it again (and the AI will cast it again, its dumb), this puts this card at a whopping total cost of ONE MANA counting the mana "loss" the opponent suffers. I would play this card for 18 mana. I'd play it for 20. Even for 24 mana I'd play it.

What were they thinking when they made this card? This is pretty much better than 90% of the mythics in the game, and its only a rare.

Unknown

starting to pray for when I get first 600 pack even though I have barely played jayce yet

Unknown

Before the wide release of the game it was a better Voidmage. It was 2/2 for 10 and I think it made it only cost 2-3 more. Now the card is broken and does need fixed.

Unknown

This guy is a 2/2 in the card game. I have noticed for the most part, the creatures are consistent with what they are in the card game but there are some exceptions. Wouldn't be surprised if they 'right-sized' them all at some point...

madsalad

I got this fattie in my Big Box but haven't had a chance to play with him yet as I've been focusing on Nissa. Looks like it's time to roll out the red carpet for Jace...

Blahahah

I can already hear the nerf train pulling into the station.

Unknown

A tidbit on the combo I mentioned, it doesn't actually work, disperse requires opponent target.

Which is a pity, because in real magic there is a lot of synergy and nice effects from bouncing your own creatures. Oh well.

Unknown

Agree with Panda's analysis entirely, the tempo swing of casting this card is backbreaking. This is one of two completely busted rare blue creatures (the other being Mizzium Meddler) which warp matches by themselves. I think blue is generally agreed to be overpowered, partially because of the existence of this RARE. While in paper magic we have the ban list, app games have updates... enjoy it while you can, I know I am!!

BlackSheep101

Mizzium Meddler is annoying, but you can change the order of your hand to deal with it. I even found that if I left a 1 casting cost card at the top of my hand I was able to fill up my second and third cards normally.

Unknown

I was looking to see if there was a post for this card yet... because yes.. it's completely broken. I'm guessing it meant to say.. Gains 9 Mana (so it could be almost instantly recast) or his stats should be a 3/3 or cost 17 or something.

I'm fairly certain this card was not intended to be this OP and will be dealt with.

Unknown

To be honest, while this card is good (very, very good), and overpowered on its own, in an actual structured blue deck it is good but can't carry a deck on its own.

Of course simply having 6/6 for 10 is great, but the fact of the matter is Mizzium and Disciple are both so broken that this card actually leaves the limelight.

So my final verdict is: if you have it, by all means play it. But it isn't a card that will carry a game by itself.

However, if you consider this card on its own you have to say it is still extremely broken.

madsalad

IDK, my deck has this card, the one that drains 3 mana from your opponent, the bounce spell and the other bounce dude (can you tell I'm terrible with card names) and I've been rocking it pretty hard when I play Jace.

If I get extras of this dude in my hand, I just turn him off and fill him off and play him when the next opponent critter hits the board. Slow and steady but wins in the end. That's Blue in a nutshell though.

Blahahah

I personally don't mind it too much because it mostly just makes fodder for Lilianna's corruption, and a 6/6 is never too much of a bother...
But yeah, it could definitely cost more.

Unknown

Please don't nerf. This guy is key to my wincon.

Unknown

Best card in the game. Only creature you need in a jace deck.

Roxton

It's definitely undercosted, but what really rankles is how much better it is than the Voidmage.
I'm OK with rare cards being a bit stronger. But MtG tends to avoid making them /strictly/ better as a matter of balance and good faith.

Cost: 10 vs 10
Size: 2/2 vs 6/6
Ability: Bounced card requires 6 less mana to play. vs Bounced card requires 9 more mana to play.

Maybe swap their abilities, and bump them both up to 12? I suppose there are a lot of options for rectifying the situation.

Unknown

Honestly, I think it's a typo in the mana cost. I would guess it's supposed to be 20 and got entered as 10. Blue creatures are supposed to kind of suck, so giving blue basically the best creature in the game smacks of the early days of Morphling.

Figuring an average of, say, 6-7 mana per turn, a 20-mana creature can take 3-4 turns to hit the board which feels about right for a card of this magnitude in this game. If you get lucky and pull off two 10-mana turns, you deserve to win the game in a hurry. If you get lucky and get a 10-mana turn on turn 2 or 3, well, maybe not so much.

Unknown

My problem is it is such a huge departure from the MTG card.

It would make a ton more sense if it was simply a 2/2 or 3/3, 10 mana, bounce and increase mana cost by 3-6.

That fits into being a "better" voidmage without being ridiculously overpowered.

While it should cost 20 or so, the problem is that 20 mana for a bounce creature kinda defeats the point of bounce. I'd rather they nerf its stats and mana penalty than make it cost 20.

The_Leftist

Definitely an annoying card to play against, but it could be soooooo much worse. Imagine if they bring cards like Platinum Angel into the game. "You can't lose the game, and your opponent's can't win the game".

Or how about that platinum emporium guy? "Your life total can't change"

This is the type of thing I'm worried about. Would be funny tho to have a Mind Control card, and laugh when another player had someone like that taken away to be used against them. Too bad it's not like real magic and you get to see the tragic look on someone's face as they realize they went from invincible to completely f***** because they don't have any disenchants or creature destruction cards.

And at least there aren't any infinite combos, although I guess it wouldn't really work, as the game would just keep adding an infinite amount of Thoptors or slivers and wouldn't ever give you a chance to deal damage and win.

Unknown

This card is still super OP. It should not be a 6/6. 9 mana penalty is also almost impossible to deal with.

Unknown

I encountered this card today, in a Jace deck that was c. level 8 but stuffed with rares. Someone must be having fun with it somewhere!