Owl For You

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A simple choice - or perhaps not so simple. There is now raging a great battle between the forces (fans) of Augury Owl, the new Magic 2011 cycler and that of Sage Owl. The fate of gamers at kitchen tables and FNM around the world hang in the balance on the outcome of this battle.

Just kidding - we felt like a bit of drama. The conclusion, if you are interested is that Augury Owl wins and a much loved mechanic returns.



Anywhoos - let's have a closer look before we carry on . .

new hotness

Augury Owl, 1u
Creature - Owl, Common
Flying
When Augury Owl enters the battlefield, Scry 3.
(To scry 3, look at the top three cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest on top in any order.)
1/1

old and tired

Sage Owl, 1u
Creature - Bird, Common
Flying
When Sage Owl enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
1 / 1


And perhaps a bit of rules for the mechanic Scry . . .

Scry - The scry ability applies when a spell or ability resolves. The rules for scry (from the Comprehensive Rules) are as follows:

502.36. Scry

502.36a Scry is a static ability that functions while a spell or ability is resolving. "Scry X" means "Look at the top X cards of your library. Put any number of them on the bottom of your library in any order and the rest on top of your library in any order."

502.36b If a spell or ability has multiple instances of scry, each one works separately.

Scry originally appeared in Fifth Dawn as a keyword ability, primarily on instants and sorceries as "Scry X," where X is a number. The player looks at the top X cards of his library, puts any number of them on the bottom of his library and the rest on top of his library in any order. In Future Sight, Scry was redefined to be a keyword action, allowing it to be placed in the middle of an ability rather than as a "tack-on" to other abilities. In Fifth Dawn, the only version of scry was "Scry 2," though it was designed to allow other values. Future Sight included variations "Scry 1" through "Scry 4."

In terms of which Owl is better, we say Augury Owl - hands down. During game play, you have a fairly solid idea of what cards you placed in your deck will help and which ones will not. Who needs a aura when you are really looking for spot removal - you are a smart pilot, have good anticipatory skills and only you will know which cards you will need on board in the next few turns - the rest is dead weight and can easily be chucked to the bottom of your library without any guilty feelings - yeah - we'll call you sometime. We hope there will be a lot of other cards with scry coming up in M11.

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