Why is Medomai the Ageless (and other seemingly good cards) bad?

An important thing to mention about all of them, besides maybe Medomai as he also functions as a creature, is that you're taking up a full turn on top of paying too much for the effect. Ugin's Nexus is likely the most realistic of all of the examples at 5 mana. But it doesn't effect the board. If you want to combo it with something else, you're using two cards and at least a full turn in order to get one turn out of it. Which is the equivalent at that point of getting to draw a card and having an extra attack step once you account for the turns you used setting it up.

Worst Fears won't necessarily win you the game. You can force them into bad attacks, waste spells in their hand, and maybe do some other bad plays. But the card itself won't kill them. It doesn't help get rid of a creature you can't actually deal with, nor hurt them via damage, and could end up just doing nothing. All for 9 mana.

The only one you mentioned that isn't directly overcosted or doesn't do anything is Godsend. But, in reality, it is overcosted. It's actually a similar situation as Ugin's Nexus. You take a turn to play it. Then take a turn to equip. At that point you get +3/+3 boost, and an ability that is entirely dictated by the opponent. Assuming they don't kill/bounce/etc the creature in response to the equip, your opponent can still block your creature. It's big enough that they likely weren't going to beat it in combat anyways. And if they were, they're likely going to keep jamming threats on the board to overwhelm you even if Godsend is equipped to a vigilant blocker. All in all, it's just kind of a lackluster card that doesn't do enough for it's 6 mana (at least) cost for playing and equipping. Also hurting it is double white for a three drop. It reminds me of Moonsilver Spear, a card I liked a lot. And a card I personally feel did more overall when you got it going. But it just didn't do enough for the cost and didn't end up as playable.

The important thing to remember though is that, if you're playing for fun, it doesn't matter if the card is good or bad. You should focus on enjoying yourself. But there are plenty of valid reasons cards like the ones you mentioned aren't going to show up in any big tournament results. They're expensive, clunky, and Timmy cards at heart. Meant more for being fun than good.

/r/magicTCG Thread