Regarding the artwork with his metallic nature, the flavor text talking about design, and considering that all other Automatons have that creature type, i'd suggest an Oracle change to make this guy a Golem Construct.
Although interestingly, Adaptive Automaton used at some point during development the creature type Golem as well:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120635&d=1309298356
Of course Golems are creations as well, so I might be missing some point.
But Automatons just seem to be more like something crafted and less like something animated to me.
Although Mirrodin's Golems for example are both...
Posted By:
Mode
(7/20/2011 4:17:30 AM)
Has not aged well, but a 4/4 for {4} back in the day was good. With the right mana acceleration he can be swinging at your face as early as turn 2. By the time you have 7 permanents in play, he probably won't be as relevant as bigger spells / permanents anyways..
Posted By:
tcollins
(1/11/2011 12:24:50 AM)
Another unfortunate example of power creep.
Was probably fairly strong in its day, and unfortunately useless past a certain point in the game. By then, you should hopefully have something to play, but imagine needing a chump blocker to stall and drawing this guy...
Posted By:
Jannissary
(2/7/2012 2:39:07 PM)
Seriously? This is rare?
Posted By:
McThor
(9/4/2010 3:33:25 PM)
It's pretty bad when even the flavor text is about how bad the card is.
Posted By:
EyeHunter
(5/8/2013 11:26:22 AM)
I actually think this card is kind of neat, to a degree. He's not utterly useless as a blocker at turn {4} if you haven't been playing a permanent for every land. He could theoretically be used to abuse "whenever a creature enters the battlefield" abilities. True, he's costly, but something like Cathars' Crusade lets you essentially cast him as a blocker with "Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.". Power Conduit could also be used to steal the counter he'd get from dropping by.
I think the best combination this guy could possibly get is definitely Confusion in the Ranks, though. Consider; He enters the battlefield, you switch his place with a creature/artifact the enemy controls. Then, their turn rolls around, his ability activates, and he returns to your hand. Repeat for more theft. At the worst, you'll annoy them as they have to keep playing things to get their card back. At best, he'll let you steal someone... (see all)
Posted By:
NARFNra
(6/17/2013 10:44:47 PM)