[Dragons of Tarkir] Stratus Dancer

[serracollector]

I know its been a long time since Morph, or in this circumstance, Voidmage Prodigy, was played, as its the most comparable card, but this has several advantages over it.
1.)  No need to sacrifice any creatures for his ability.
2.)  He has flying.
3.)  He become a 3/2 flyer.
4.) He is either 1 to cast or 1 to flip, which makes him a negate on a stick.

I think he has potential in Vintage.  As we seen in Delver, 3/2 flyers for cheap are no joke, and his built in counter ability puts him in the same "area" (loose term, no need for mass arguments) as Vendillion Clique.

Oh, and OFC he is blue, blah blah Force of Will.

[MaximumCDawg]

Megamorph is boring.  Really, Wizards?  Take a very common triggered ability (When this turns face up, put a +1/+1 counter on it) and you made it into part of the morph ability... and that's the new twist?  Compared to Manifest, this seems incredibly lame.  

All that said, the card itself is pretty sweet and I'm sure the ability could lead to some powerful cards.  Here we got a 2/2 for 3, which is bad, but then you've got the ability to cast most of Negate and upgrade it to a 3/2?  That's not terrible at all.  If we get more cheap reactive cards like this, Manifest gets very interesting.

He has ZERO potential in Vintage unless we get some amazing new Manifest enablers.  There is no Vintage deck that wants to pay 5 mana spread out over two turns to cast Negate and get a 3/2.  Delver costs 1 mana and makes your fetchlands into card selection.  Clique is either card draw or a thoughtseize and a 3/1 with Flash all for 1UU.  This card is not even in the same universe.

This supposes we're not getting new Manifest cards.  If you had a card like this:

Mega Manifest U
Search your library for a card and manifest it.

Then we're in business.

EDIT: Let's elaborate further on how this is not vintage playable, shall we?  What are the closest comparators?

1. Voidmage Apprentice - Pros: Counters anything.  Cons: Costs 2UU to flip and the body is basically nonexistent.  Not playable.  Stratus Dancer is better than this.

2. Willbender - Pros: Can affect abilities as well as spells (Trike?).  Stops Abrupt Decay.  Cons: Worse against spells and leaves an irrelevant body.  Stratus Dancer is better than this.

3. Glen Elendra Archmange - Pros: Counters more creatures, gives you a better body in the short term, and gives you 2 counterspells (or one and resistance to removal) on a single card.  Cons: Costs 4 up front and U to counter instead of 3 upfront and 2 to counter.  Eventually, Dancer is more powerful.  Status Dancer is probably a wash with this card.

Since GEA is not played in Vintage, and Stratus Dancer seems about on par with that, that strongly suggests to me that Dancer is not playable.   It's the initial 3 mana investment that kills it in my eyes.  Give it Flash and make the counterspell ability a ETB trigger and we're in business.

[Wagner]

Megamorph is boring.

That was my first reaction as well. Hell, even Dash is far more interesting than this new "twist".

Mega Manifest U
Search your library for a card and manifest it.

Phyrexian Dreadnought would run rampant with this, a bit too good.

[MaximumCDawg]

In Legacy?  Maybe.  In Vintage?  Nah, we've got Tinker for Blightsteel.  Having another 1 card combo for a huge monster would be played but it wouldn't break anything.  Abrupt Decay and Chalice would keep it in line.

[Wagner]

In Legacy?  Maybe.  In Vintage?  Nah, we've got Tinker for Blightsteel.  Having another 1 card combo for a huge monster would be played but it wouldn't break anything.  Abrupt Decay and Chalice would keep it in line.

The best creature for 1 mana right now is Delver, a 3/2 flying creature for 1, this would make all those decks now have a 12/12 creature with Trample on turn 1 or 2 instead, I think that's a bit problematic. Chalice only works if you land it first, but if your opp goes turn 1 Dreadnought, well, you have 2 turns to get a Duplicant or you're dead.

Tinker still costs 3 and 1 extra card, not just 1 mana, and it's restricted.

Even if you get a random card, it's still a 2/2 for U which is out of flavor for that color.

For Standard, it would be hugely better than any morph card printed as it allows you to get whichever you want from your deck AND you only have to pay 1 to play it, basically negating the mechanic as a whole.

[mueller]

non-creature spell != instant or sorcery spell. Negate is far more useful as a counter than this, and it sees little play.

[Wagner]

I'm glad they are bringing back Djinn though, it should lead to nice flavor and interesting art. Also, stock up on King Suleiman while they are cheap!!!

[GrandpaBelcher]

The benefits to Voidmage Prodigy are that you don't have to morph it into play or unmorph it to counter a spell. For one, that means it works off Aether Vial and Cavern of Souls. You can also sacrifice any Wizard, meaning you have potentially any number of counters. I don't think this is as good as VMP in the "counter spells" arena, and it's not as good as Delver (or several other creatures) in the 3/2 flyer arena.

[portland]

Generous dose of "meh" for vintage. Proper kicking potential in limited though.

[MaximumCDawg]

The benefits to Voidmage Prodigy are that you don't have to morph it into play or unmorph it to counter a spell. For one, that means it works off Aether Vial and Cavern of Souls. You can also sacrifice any Wizard, meaning you have potentially any number of counters. I don't think this is as good as VMP in the "counter spells" arena, and it's not as good as Delver (or several other creatures) in the 3/2 flyer arena.

I can't believe I missed that one.  Do you know, I've never even noticed that Prodigy has Morph?  Anyway, I think your analysis is spot and demonstrates further why this card is a big ol' goose egg for eternal formats.

[vaughnbros]

Megamorph is boring.

That was my first reaction as well. Hell, even Dash is far more interesting than this new "twist".

Agreed, megamorph looks like one of the laziest mechanics I've ever seen.

The card itself seems ok.  I highly doubt it sees any vintage play though.

[gkraigher]

this card is pretty terrible.

It needed flash and the ability to counter artifacts. 

[Protoaddict]

Mystical snake is basically better in most all cases right? I know it's not directly comparable but 4 mana for a 2/2 and a hard counter for anything seems better than 5 mana for a 3/2 flyer with a negate.

[tribet]

I'm glad they are bringing back Djinn though, it should lead to nice flavor and interesting art.

A Djinn Monk? Not sure how that's works flavour wise. Looks weird to me.
A blue Na'vi straight out of Pandora world. I guess we'll have to wait for the next djinn to get some interesting art.

[sirgog]

This card looks like a serious competitive Standard card and maybe (at best) a fringe Modern card. That is all.

First the 2 mana mode (2/1 flier for 2) - it's all upside that you have the option, but it's not enough.

On the main mode. 3 + 2 mana is too much for a Negate and a pre-flipped Delver in this format. Mana Drain is better at countering spells and has a comparable upside, yet costs 2 mana not 5, and isn't widely run as a 4-of these days.

[serracollector]

I dont disagree w any of these statements. Unfortunately almost any card with morph is going to not be good enough for Vintage. Maybe we will see something that lets you morph for less than three mana or lets your play morphs w flash? One can hope I really like the ability myself.

[MaximumCDawg]

I dont disagree w any of these statements. Unfortunately almost any card with morph is going to not be good enough for Vintage. Maybe we will see something that lets you morph for less than three mana or lets your play morphs w flash? One can hope I really like the ability myself.

Well, there are plenty of abilities in Vintage that are playable at 3 mana.  Tinker?  Yawgwill? Time Walk?  None of them would be fair on a morph card that didn't cost 999999 mana to flip, though.  So, yea, we're SOL.

[xouman]

When I saw the card I thought that was nice and nearly playable. Now, I cannot see it being played unless there is a cheap way to play those morph creatures. Something like

Morphenabler 1W
Rhino cleric
Sacrifice a creature : Put a card from your hand onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature blablabla.
1W, Tap: Exile a creature you control, then put it into play face down.
1/4


I'm not sure if that would be too powerful in other formats. I also don't know if that would be playable at all in vintage without real powerful morph creatures. But now playing  for a plain 2/2 and then having to pay again for an effect is too expensive.