As a result, Battle for Zendikar Standard is asking the community a question similar to the one Caw Blade asked, "Are you willing to immediately spend an additional $400 to own a competitive, tournament worthy deck?" Unfortunately, $400 is a large enough amount that a meaningful portion of the player base is unwilling or unable to pay
The emerald villain can be useful in an 'actions matter' deck and could be a great compliment for Alice, but he also has some stiff competition in the Emerald five-cost slot thanks to Kuzco, Temperamental Emporer and Ray, Easygoing Firefly
With it almost being around for 30 years the iterations and advancement that these cards have been through are mindblowing from original rare cards like the Black Lotus, all the way to their newest releases
Note that all of these function after blockers are declared which is the entire point of an instant granting a creature first strike to begin with
Its Solemn Simulacrums car, so to speak