Thread by @JasonILTG

Today I'm finally talking about Symmetry Sage. ALSA 7.85. I put this one off twice since I'm still not quite sure where I stand on it; I think there is a home for it, but I think that home is rare enough that I wouldn't call it underrated? Still interesting to talk about. 1/x

The ceiling of this card is as a one mana 2/2 flier: basically Delver of Secrets, right? It has a bit more upside, since it can give Fractals +2/+0 and such, but it's hard enough already to trigger it once every turn. But that ceiling is very good: Wind Drake for 2 less. 2/x

But of course, the problem is that you can't actually reliably trigger it every turn, and a 0/2 flier is basically irrelevant, useful only for chump blocks. And even if you have a lot of spells, the timing can often be awkward with whether you want to attack or block with it. 3/x

If you have an instant like Bury in Books or Arcane Subtraction, it'll be easy to make it a 2/2 on blocks, but hard to attack with it without giving up value; if you have a sorcery like Serpentine Curve, you have the opposite problem of only being able to use it offensively. 4/x

This tension means that to maximize Sage, you want one of three things: either you have reactive spells and are defensive, or you have proactive spells and are offensive, or you have cheap instants like Curate or Opt so you can play both offensively and defensively with Sage. 5/x

The first scenario works best in a controlling Prismari deck. If you have enough cheap instant-speed cantrips and interaction, Sage can fit the 2-drop role that Prismari lacks outside Pledgemage and Apprentice: a cheap creature that trades off early but can be relevant late. 6/x

The second scenario is weirder, as both Prismari and Quandrix tend to be relatively controlling. There's some room in both to be proactive; Sage could go well with Frost Tricksters, Mage Duels, and/or Enthusiastic Studies. However, I've never been successful with such decks. 7/x

The actual deck I'm imagining for the second scenario is off-college: UW fliers. White has good aggressive and evasive tools, while blue provides tempo with Frost Trickster, Bury in Books, and to some extent Waterfall Aerialist. And Sage can definitely be part of that. 8/x

One especially strong synergy is to play Guiding Voice on Sage; now, you have a 1/3 flier that turns into a 3/3, which is a very real attacker and even a reasonable blocker, especially on turn 2. And you even get a lesson to trigger it again in the future. 9/x

It might be tempting to compare Sage to Clever Lumimancer. And both want similar things: cheap spells to consistently trigger magecraft. But they play quite differently: Lumimancer wants to get in big bursts of damage, while Sage wants to consistently peck in. 10/x

In general, I think Lumimancer is a better 1-drop for aggressive white decks, as the big bursts of damage early really helps fliers finish the job later, while Sage ends up serving the same role as other fliers with less consistency. But Lumimancer is another thread. 11/x

The last scenario mostly blends into the first two. If I'm putting Sage in my deck, I'd want cantrips to give more flexibility with attacking or blocking, but I'd still want to have a plan to mostly fall on one side of that. I don't want Sage to be an 0/2 at the wrong time. 12/x

So where does this leave Symmetry Sage? I'm still unsure. My dream scenario for it is that I draft some good white and blue cards, and wheel Sages to build an aggressive UW fliers deck. But I've only drafted UW a few times, and only one of them (a trophy!) used Sages well. 13/x

Summary: Symmetry Sage is a card that I'm still not sure about. I think it can be good if you have a lot of reactive spells in a controlling UR deck, or a lot of proactive spells in an aggressive UW deck, but it's hard to make work, and UW is especially finnicky. 14/14

Here is the aforementioned UW trophy with two Sages; the white learn spells were good for being proactive:

17lands.com/deck/5b42c32e6…

Here is a UW 2-1 with one Sage that didn't have enough proactive spells. No Inkling hurt a lot:

17lands.com/deck/ae130d811…

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