I think you overrate The Eldest Reborn a bit. Don't get me wrong, it's a great card and a high pick, but it's not that good. The problem is if you play it early you might not have a good card to bring back with the third chapter; if you play it late, the opponent might have lots of small creatures already and the first chapter is not effective (besides opponent might be hellbent and the second chapter isn't effective either). I think Modulo is right about where The Eldest Reborn is relative to the real mythic uncommons.
I probably do because I've lost a lot to it. It doesn't take much for either step 1 or step 3 to be backbreaking. But after it even had a showing in early Standard this season, people are dumping it for tempo reasons.
Just yesterday I tried to understand how people regard
History of Benalia as one of the very best cards overall and attempted to put mana values to those respective cards and their steps. I think Benalia is worth ~5 mana (2 bears and a limited, non-surprising pump) and for
The Eldest Reborn I'd say 3 (step 1 is close to
Plaguecrafter) + 1 (worst step by far, especially because the opponent knows it's coming) +5 (
Rise from the Grave), so 9 in total.
So seriously, please explain to me, why Benalia is (regarded as) so much better. I know that my doubts cannot be right for people build successful decks around Benalia and our dear black card collects dust outside of Limited.
And on another note, Banedon, regarding my yesterday's deck. If you're not convinced of its prowess: I forgot to mention my
In Bolas's Clutches, 2
Cloudreader Sphinx and
Academy Drake. Believe me it was good
I should have found a way to win the 18 minutes game and the one I didn't mention was kind of stupid by me. I gave him lethal one turn early after failing two draw steps (despite Scry 2 from a Sphinx) to find a 6th land to clutch his
Demonlord Belzenlok.
And Icy, yes, like I said, you never see it beyond pick 1. The bots are apparently based on AD. So I guess thanks are in order for all those late Verixes etc