Skittering Sands
The Draconic talent seems to have a thing for ash, and in traditional Illusionist form, we're using ash to create something that appears to be much more than it is.
Dromai creates ash as she pitches red cards, and can also gain ash from her Draconic card pool. Ash is a 'Material', a new keyword that seems to point toward a token type that attaches to something to imbue it with attributes. In the case of ash, it says:
While Ash is under an object, that object has phantasm.
Skittering Sands provides the next detail, as it explains the Transform keyword.
Create an Aether Ashwing token and put ash under it.
So when Skittering Sand creates an Aether Ashwing, it comes with phantasm attached to it. (We can assume this will be the case with the major dragons too, unless the Transform keyword has radically different mechanics on different cards. If it's transformed from ash, it should have phantasm.)
The Aether Ashwing?
A 1 attack, 1 health token ally with Arcane Barrier 1. Yes, Dromai can craft Arcane Barrier mid-game without giving up equipment slots. It's a radical departure from how we've conceptualized arcane defenses prior to Uprising, and changes how Wizard players need to approach the matchup.
Skittering Sands (R) gives +3 attack to your Aether Ashwing, bringing it up to a 4 attack. Notably, it does not provide a way for that Ashwing to attack- further supporting the notion that Dromai is likely to command her allies with her weapon.
Skittering Sands (R) clearly supports using your allies to attack- and asks your opponent to make a hefty sacrifice if they want to trigger phantasm on the block! While a Light Illusionist throws attacks of equal or greater damage than the 6 required to destroy the attack, the Draconic Illusionist threatens you with pesky 1s turn after turn. It's only that first attack that deals significant damage- and a 4 is still less than the damage that blocking card could have done.
But this is a common, so we can assume a Skittering Sands (Y) and (B), presumably with +2 and +1 to the Ashwing's attack, respectively. At blue pitch, Skittering Sands is less about the possible attack and more about the Arcane Barrier, or simply increasing the density of your allies. For decks where your dragons are accessories and not the main weapon, the blue version should find a lot of use.
Marco Gonzalez has made an incredible piece of art for this card. The swirling sands feed a still-forming dragon, not so much rising from the desert as taking the desert up and giving it new reach. Dark and light are used to incredible effect to make us feel as though we're wrapped up within the vortex, within this illusion. We see a lone figure- staff held defensively, but without confidence- confronted by the dragon. If this is the scale of an Ashwing, perhaps 1/1 is not enough! Then again, perhaps it only seems that large in the moment. Perhaps you only feel it's power when it's freshly formed, before the sand begins to collapse in upon itself.
