Ion Storm: Not even once
MaRo said:The second problem was the decision to make the bad guys go the opposite direction of the good guys. Since the good guys team up, the bad guys had a loner theme. I think we pushed the loner theme a little too hard, which made it hard to play black. This partially resulted in the imbalance of the colors I talked about above.
I had an incredibly fun Peasant deck once with Homicidal Seclusion. It involved Crypt Rats
I don't think these cards are worth it in draft though. You're much too likely to be overrun by multiple creatures or blown out by a single removal spell. I believe Mark Rosewater has gone on record saying the loner mechanic was one of the downsides of Avacyn Restored.
... looking ...
Here it is, from the State of Design 2012. So, from the man-who-can't-be-too-critical what-with-him-publishing-on-the-mothership-and-all-and-thus-tends-to-use-euphemism-when-talking-about-failures-in-Magic himself, loner is kinda a bad mechanic to push for in limited.
Damn Rosewater and his logics; My mind was just beginning to hype up the idea of a loner theme when I saw those cards.
Maybe if the player was guarenteed to get both Rising and Seclusion when drafting one?
I mean, there's a reason Avacyn Restored is considered one of the worst modern draft sets, and the loner theme is a huge part of that.
Meloku the Clouded Mirror is a really lovely card; very nostalgic for a lot of folks, I think, as an "iconic blue curve-topper". In a lot of ways, he's suffered from power creep significantly more than Aetherling (a much more recent "nostalgic" curve topper), but I actually think he's a far more enjoyable play, and he topdecks very nicely. He provides a lot of interesting decision-points, which is what I find so attractive; as a 2/4, he's not closing out games unless you're making a few token pals, but since each token-pal either stalls or sets back your mana development, he's a high-risk, high-reward style of card, that still isn't terribly demanding to secure a win with. He certainly packs a lot more punch if you support Lands-Matter in some way. That said, I wouldn't fault you for playing Docent of Perfection; the card is, as you point out, a lot more obvious to get value out of, and if it matches up with your archetypes, then that's a strong mark in its favour! I've seen enough people win from bashing in with Djinn of Wishes in my cube to respect a big flyer with extra spice.