Phantom Monster at common is fine in Masters sets which are a source of many rarity shifts that only work because they are Masters sets with more above curve cards from across MtG history. A 3/3 flying at blue is basically
the reference line for what you don't get at common anymore at that cost in a normal environment.
You get arguably better cards with flash etc. but that's the nature of the beast for "incomparables". It's also a little weird to argue whether this card is too weak by citing
Phantom Monster, when you could use the same criticism against
Triton Waverider and
Vantress Paladin from the two most recent sets.
Power level is a broad road and I don't spend all my time in the fast lane.
user_938036 wrote: ↑4 years ago
Blue doesn't really get this kind of "I get a better cheaper creature but it somehow helps my opponents." Also a flying 3/3 for 4 at common is acceptable in blue. Its mildly pushed but it's been done before.
How can you imply to criticize this both for being a "cheaper creature"
and for being not pushed enough because its acceptable? That's what I'm aiming for: A card that
technically is cheaper for a drawback, but not
so much cheaper that we wouldn't have seen it before in a high-powered environment.
This card being at exactly the "could have not the drawback if you want to push the power level" is
exactly the point, because the question I want to ask with about how much worse
Phantom Monster can be and still make the cut. I'd argue "a lot" since a
Hill Giant/
Giant Octopus can make the cut if you lack something at four mana.
What this is conceptually is a 3/3 for {3}{U} that gets a Phelddagrif trade: The creature gets something in-color, but the opponent
also gets something in-color. Giving your creature flying but giving scry N, how big can N get before you'd rather have the
Giant Octopus.
I'm really open to the discussion about N, but have a hard time figuring out how to make a convincing argument about it without actually having an environment to evaluate and probably also test this against.
