­Challenge # 083

The keyword mechanic seems pretty strong. Guaranteed card advantage if the opponent wants to block it, and backbreaking if it gets enough equipment/etc to need to double-block or chump block it. Similarly painfully good with pump spells or "I survive combat after all" tricks.

True, although blue already gets things like Latch Seeker and Blighted Agent -- I find it hard to evaluate evasion mechanics, when sometimes blue just gets "can't be blocked"...

True. Though one of the problems with blue creature keyword mechanics is it has lots of evasion abilities and not much else.

I don't think the problem is that the ability is strong... it just isn't fun for your opponent. In theory, no good ability is, and making your opponent squirm is something a lot of players like to do. But intentionally filling a set full of cards that makes your opponent squirm isn't good for the health of the game. It's not as obviously bad for the game as a pure drawback (cards with this mechanic would still receive a fair number of stars on Gatherer, for example)... but too many cards like this would lead to players no longer wanting to play the game, and attendance at tournaments dropping. Kind of like what happened to Fairies in Lorwyn. There was nothing wrong with the fairies on an individual level....