Spoiler Highlight: Darkstar Augur on Standard & Pioneer

We haven't even had an opportunity to digest the cards for Universes Beyond: Assassin's Creed and we're already in the middle of preview season for Bloomburrow, the next Magic expansion that brings with it the new Standard rotation, where Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Streets of New Capenna will leave the format.

With a theme focused on a world where small animals face huge hunters that define the seasons, the set features some very unusual creature types and offers them typal synergies, such as Rats, Bats, Lizards, Rabbits and Squirrels. But in addition to these synergies, the set also features some of these creatures with a very interesting power level, such as the recently revealed Darkstar Augur, perhaps the closest creature to Dark Confidant that we have seen in many years on Standard and Pioneer.

Darkstar Augur is another in the long cycle of cards that every Magic set has had for over a decade: a black three-drop that offers some constant value. These can come in the form of Planeswalkers like Liliana of the Veil, or as enchantments in the style of Phyrexian Arena, or even as creatures like the recent Preacher of the Schism.

The new creature gained notoriety for its similarity to a card that has been a staple of multiple formats for years, Dark Confidant, with the exact same ability, but costing one more mana - something already attempted with Dark Tutelage, which didn't make any difference in competitive Magic - only compensating for this extra investment with an improved body and evasion, being a 2/3 with Flying,

Furthermore, Darkstar Augur also has the ability to Offspring, that is, by paying more, you create a 1/1 token that is a copy of it, which means twice as much value with a single slot, and although spells that offer resources in exchange for life have their risks, the new “Confidant” is one of those cards that is very worth building around to get the most out of it.

Standard is going through a rotation with Bloomburrow, and so it's a little difficult to predict exactly where Darkstar Augur might enter when so many staples are leaving, but I believe its impact is as effective Raffine, Scheming Seer, where it is a flying three-drop that offers absurd amounts of value and resources if it stays on the board and that, like its predecessor, motivates the construction of a low-cost Midrange or an Aggro deck.

There's no shortage of creatures with one or two mana values ​​for us to runalongside Darkstar Augur, plus, some cheap removals remain in the format even after the rotation, helping to establish an overarching strategy for it, but there are also trade-offs: except for Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and possible future staples, it will be difficult to use certain staples from the current season and cards with very high mana values. Virtue of Persistence, for example, becomes too dangerous, such as filling the list with many three-drops that remain in the Metagame, such as Glissa Sunslayer or Tranquil Frillback.

I believe the new creature will stand out better in Orzhov or Esper lists than in Golgari, which miss Wedding Announcement and The Wandering Emperor while they can benefit from a more aggressive proposition and/or proactive with new cards, like Brightblade Stoat (which will be excellent in those first weeks when Aggro decks tends to shine).

Would Dark Confidant be too strong on Pioneer? Probably, but the differences between Darkstar Augur and the Ravnica card are much more evident in Pioneer, especially since the format's value three-drop slot in Midrange is already usually occupied by another multiple format staple:

Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is better than Darkstar Augur on most occasions - and in the current format, where the best Midrange is Rakdos Vampires, the new creature also ends up losing the contest against Preacher of the Schism due to the interactions it has with the chosen creature type, making it safer to play in Control matchups with Cavern of Souls and more efficient in holding off the opponent's pressure in games where Vein Ripper doesn't take over the game early.

Where the new creature can shine, however, is in archetypes that don't have the benefits of using Preacher of the Schism or don't have access to red for Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Lists like Mono Black Midrange can take advantage of the creature even if they run one or two copies of Invoke Despair, given that the spell commonly recovers most of the life that would be lost if revealed (and, it's worth remembering, Dark Confidant has already featured in decks with Tombstalker in Legacy, so it's not like if players didn't take some risks with cards like this before).

Waste Not could be interested in the card as well. After all, it has a relatively low curve, and it's not difficult to keep Darkstar Augur in play when you've exhausted your opponent's resources - and here, it'd be competing with Hostile Investigator, whose interactions with the deck's theme are important, but perhaps not enough to avoid a direct replacement.

The possibility of strategies with lower curves appearing in Pioneer due to the new creature seems unlikely: Midranges already do some pretty absurd things and Darkstar Augur is kind of slow to establish archetypes when your opponent is putting up a Vein Ripper into play on turn three with Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord.

Darkstar Augur certainly has its similarities to Dark Confidant and that should earn it some testing and space in Standard and Pioneer lists in the first few weeks of Bloomburrow.

While I'm sure it can find a home in the rotation format, the presence of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and the unbalanced nature of Pioneer's turns puts it in a disadvantaged position where, perhaps, this card will be considered as "too fair" for the Metagame.

Thanks for reading!