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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Aven Trooper
Creature — Bird Soldier
Flying
(2)(White), Discard a card: Aven Trooper gets +1/+2 until end of turn.
legendofa on Tiers of card badness
1 month ago
Not all "bad" cards are created equal. As I see it, just like how there's build-around good cards, really good cards, and must-include cards, there's several tiers of cards that don't quite measure up.
At the top, there's the weird cards. These cards have unique effects. They're generally useful and/or interesting, but make lots of demands for deckbuilding and have no redundancy. Spellweaver Helix, Riku of Two Reflections, and Leyline of the Guildpact are some examples. Good for casual play and for "trying to make work".
Next is the draft fodder. Good if you don't have anything better, but easily replaceable. These cards get functionally reprinted a lot, and are usually pretty straightforward. I would put Cancel, Shock, and Alabaster Host Sanctifier as examples. You won't be ashamed to use them in Limited, and they work well as starters for a new collection, but they get outclassed quickly.
Next, and the first tier I would call truly bad cards, are the very inefficient cards and the cards that just don't do anything. They're significantly overcosted, or there's many better options. These cards might still be technically useful, or at least not actively harmful, but they can't compete with anything else. Mudhole, Razor Boomerang, and Aven Trooper go here.
Finally, there's the worst of the worst. The cards that actively hurt you and make it harder to play the game. If you put them in a deck, you're either trying to meme or you're going to Donate them. Alabaster Leech, Soldevi Steam Beast, and Goblin Elite Infantry fall into this group.
This is subjective and a continuum, so there's a lot of room to arrange individual cards. I've been reading Mark Rosewater's articles on bad cards, and designing Nihilist decks (example here), and there's been some forum discussion on what cards are worth using and which aren't. So it's been on my mind recently.
legendofa on None
2 years ago
I Don't Need to Win
Aven Trooper , Zephyr Spirit , Spiteful Bully , Shinka Gatekeeper , Leery Fogbeast
It's pretty much for the fancy new art alone. What would you pay for good art on forgettable cards?
Botanical Gardens
Sprouting Phytohydra , Phytohydra , Tree of Redemption , Tree of Perdition , Doran, the Siege Tower
It's a toughness-based plant theme in . I could actually buy this one, if I like the art.
JediCat on
Duel Decks: Storm Crow vs. Chimney Imp - Crow Deck
6 years ago
ALL HAIL THE ALMIGHTY Storm Crow! MAY ALL OF YOUR STARTING HANDS CONSIST OF TWO IslandS AND A Storm Crow!
Oh, Scornful Egotist is there... How underwhe- ALL HAIL THE GREAT LORD EGOTIST!
Seriously, this is a lovely idea, and a perfectly executed one. My respect) Also, any reason Aven Trooper isn't there? He combos with any card in this deck! He may even act as One with Nothing with an additional pump effect at the low low cost of + mana...
DiamondFlavor on The "WTF is this crap?" …
8 years ago
Aven Trooper seems like a criminal waste of some pretty atypical art.
grasshopper021 on
Birds!
8 years ago
Ok i love the deck except for 2 simple problems. 1 Your whole deck has a grand total of 2 Falcons. 2 why are you playing Aven Trooper? It is one of the worst cards of all time ever. I would recommend anything over the trooper. Play an extra plains. As for the trouble with your commander, Commander Eesha seems like a much more powerful card that would sway the game in your favor much more.
clayperce on None
8 years ago
aaron.jacob,
We're been cracking a bunch of packs over on Best. Advent Calendar. Evar. and have pulled some real uglies:
- Mwonvuli Ooze: Well, at least the flavor text is accurate!
- Aven Trooper: Hmmm,
for a 1/1 flyer or 
for a 2/3 flyer until EOT? Choices, choices ... - Razorfield Thresher:
for a 6/4 flavor text? I think its only purpose in life is to make titanreaver's Vizzerdrix look decent! :-) - Trigon of Thought ... to draw a card?!?
Blurgh!
clayperce on Best. Advent Calendar. Evar.
8 years ago
December 9th
An easy first pick today:
The rest of the pack was nice too. As expected, black set was black, with cards like Shade's Form, Enslaved Dwarf, and Anurid Scavenger. We got two of the "disorder" enchantments (Pyromania and Narcissism). And we were super-pleased to get one of the Madness cards, Basking Rootwalla (
for a 1/1? Heck yeah!)
Best flavor text of the pack was probably the Pardic Lancer, though the calendar has had better.
However we may have cracked a new worst card, so far: Aven Trooper. Blurgh. I don't know though: Mwonvuli Ooze or Aven Trooper? Hmm ...