Wednesday, 7 February 2018

Myth-Direction: Rivals Of Ixalan


It’s that time again for all of the mythic rare cards from Rivals Of Ixalan to be put under a microscope. There are a lot of great cards we’re going to take a look at today so let’s jump right in, starting with a planeswalker.



Angrath, Minotaur Pirate

When it comes to planeswalkers you want them to be powerful. Obviously,  a free reusable source is already powerful but only to a point, the abilities also have to be effective. Angrath’s first ability isn’t massively damaging but could give you a huge board advantage, depending on the toughness of your opponent’s creatures, so for the most part it acts as a quick way to get to Angrath’s ultimate. His second ability is much more tribal centric, reanimating a pirate for three loyalty is a pretty good going rate but it does limit your creature options if you want to really abuse it. Angrath’s ultimate will usually win you the game. After pinging your opponent for one and attacking them with your reanimated pirates, Angrath’s -11 allows you to blow up your opponent’s board and deal those last points of damage. Ultimately, all of these abilities combined can be deemed powerful but I feel that Angrath, Minotaur Pirate has been reigned in a bit thanks to its “planeswalker deck” position. You don’t want planeswalkers to be to complicated when being used by newer players but you still want to find that balance of ease of use and power, so for this one I’m going to say it’s hit the mythic status but only just.

Angrath, The Flame-Chained

Angrath number 2 is more on point than the first. For starters Angrath, The Flame-Chained has more of chance of a showing up in limited, it’s cheaper and all three abilities are much more effective. Being able to take your opponent’s hand apart while dealing them damage is a good start, the Hijack ability is a good way of messing with their board. Angrath’s ultimate, in conjunction with the first ability, will win you the game more often than not. This Angrath feels more mythic than the first and the abilities are easily better, this comes with the first being the dumbed down planeswalker deck version. Either way I think Angrath, The Flame-Chained is a hit on the mythic front and has a lot of potential power.

Azor, The Lawbringer

First off Azor is oozing with flavour, being the creator of the Azorious guild on Ravnica. Additionally, a six mana 6/6 is incredibly powerful, so when you throw in a temporary halt on your opponent’s non creature spells for a turn and Sphinx’s Revelation whenever Azor attacks,  you’ve got one splashy creature. I love the feel of Azor and for me this big multicoloured Sphinx hits the mythic status without question. He’s not the quickest or the easiest to cast but Azor can put a clock on your opponent whilst putting you at an advantage with lifegain and the ability to draw extra cards, both of which are very hard to pass up.

Azor’s Gateway/Sanctum Of The Sun

We’ve had Azor, now we have his gateway. The difference when evaluating the flip cards is that you have to take both sides into consideration, otherwise it would be unfair. Azor’s Gateway is a perfect example of that. The front side is really weird and makes you jump through a lot of hoops to get any pay off, that being the 5 life gain and the ability to flip it into Sanctum Of The Sun. At no point do you get any of the exiled cards back or the ability to use them again which is another issue I have with Azor’s Gateway but instead you have access to a tonne of a single coloured mana thanks to Sanctum Of The Sun. The two sides of this one card are conflicting in my opinion: you have to ditch at least five cards to get any pay off from the front side, which is a lot of work and I don’t like that as it feels durdly. However, on the Sanctum Of The Sun side the huge amount of mana it gives you can be incredibly powerful. All in all I’m going to say that Azor’s gateway shouldn’t be a mythic. It feels like Sanctum Of The Sun is the crutch that helps it become a mythic but initially Azor’s Gateway isn’t.

Elenda, The Dusk Rose

A four mana 1/1 lifelinker isn’t good. Most of the time Elenda will die very quickly in combat and you won’t get the pay off that you want. If you can pick off creatures, even your own in combat for example, you could have a much bigger Elenda who could start commanding the battlefield. I haven’t even gotten to her second ability. If at any point Elenda dies you could suddenly have a swarm of vampires equal to Elenda’s power and we all know many 1/1 lifelinkers are much harder to deal with than one big one. Elenda is an important character as she was tasked with the protection of the Immortal Sun, as a member of the vampire conquistador tribe she sought to retrieve the Sun when it was stolen. She was thought to have perished long ago but has since returned. I really like Elenda and feel that just because the power level may be a tad lower than other mythics, overall she hits that status on a flavour note perfectly.

Huatli, Radiant Champion

I won’t mince words, I don’t like Huatli. She’s costed aggressively at four mana but because of the theme of dinosaurs and nature of the card, she is almost useless without a bunch of creatures. She has no way of defending herself and even her ultimate is conditional on you playing more creatures. With everything accounted for, I don’t think Huatli should have been a mythic. I mean she has to be mythic because she’s a planeswalker, but everything about her is so below the planeswalker power level that it feels like a waste.

Kumena, Tyrant Of Orazca

Another big story character, Kumena also brings a lot of power to the Merfolk tribe. When you’re playing around with a lot of small fish-people, be it tokens or cheap Merfolk, you really want a way to abuse that fact. Kumena gives you so many options and all of them can be super effective in any game of magic. Kumena comes down cheap and makes every Merfolk after himself a much bigger threat. He hits both the flavour and power levels of mythic nicely for me. He’s cheap, effective and very capable of completely taking a game over.

Polyraptor

Big dinosaurs are powerful, it’s in their nature. The fact that they’re so powerful means that I have to look a bit deeper to evaluate them properly, something that I’ll be employing a little bit later. Polyraptor has one devastating ability that if triggered once makes the game a nightmare for your opponent. Having multiple 5/5s running around that all have the potential to make more 5/5s is brutal and difficult to deal with efficiently. The high mana cost of Polyraptor is supposed to stop that but in Ixalan it isn’t hard to accelerate your mana or cheat it out, all of this power does add up and start to make one big, hard to deal with Dino threat. However, I don’t think Polyraptor should have been a mythic rare. The effect is indeed powerful but in comparison to some of the other cards in Ixalan and Rivals Of Ixalan I think Polyraptor could have been a rare at eight mana. It’s missed the mythic mark for me by a little bit, maybe if it was more aggressively costed to the point where you could entertain the idea of Polyraptor in constructed or if it had slightly more power/toughness stats.

Rekindling Phoenix

Phoenixes come and go in the world of Magic, they come in all shapes and sizes but the one constant is that they all usually have a way of returning. Rekindling Phoenix’s way of returning is a little bit more abstract than just paying a mana cost at the beginning of your turn but it is cheaper. Having a token you have to sacrifice to bring it back is much more preferred but it does leave a fragile token behind that you have to protect for a turn. Ability aside though this four mana 4/3 flyer is going to be a powerhouse in standard for the months to come, it drops well on curve and is a massive pain for your opponent for the rest of the game. Again though, I don’t think Rekindling Phoenix should’ve been a mythic. There is nothing inherently mythic about this Phoenix and when you look at some of the flaming birds that have come before, it’s probably not even the most powerful. It’s definitely a great card but it’s missed that mythic status in my opinion, it would have been fine, if a lot cheaper money wise at rare.

The Immortal Sun

I don’t think there is any debate with this one: four effects that all for the most part work out well for you, and the way around the first one is don’t play planeswalkers - simple. The Immortal Sun works on so many fronts at once the advantage is incredible. Additional cards, cheaper spells and bigger creatures all add up to a very powerful artifact at a very reasonable six mana. The Immortal Sun is also a key story and flavour point in Ixalan, being the big end goal for everyone on the plane. So with all of this combined I’m going to say that it definitely hits the mythic rare mark in every sense along with having immense potential.

Timestream Navigator

Extra turn effects have always been an area of contention. They’ve come in all mana costs, some with drawbacks, like skipping your untap step or losing the game, and some without like Time Warp or Part The Waterveil. Anyway you cut it taking an extra turn is ridiculously effective and abusable, something that many decks have utilised. Timestream Navigator is an odd place for an extra turn effect to be: a cheap, fragile creature and the actual taking of extra turns can only happen for four mana and if you’ve had 10 or more permanents in play. The upside is that you don’t sacrifice Timestream Navigator but just put it in the bottom of your library, so you could have access to it later on. Navigator does make you jump through some hoops to get there, like controlling 10 permanents but you get an extra turn for your troubles. The biggest issue with it in the current metagame is that there isn’t really a place for Timestream Navigator. It is also another Rivals Of Ixalan Mythic that doesn’t hit the mythic bar for me. It’s awkward and powerful but not massively game changing while in a place that can’t use the additional turn to win or at least to good effect.

Trapjaw Tyrant

This could be my favourite dinosaur from Rivals Of Ixalan. Five power for five mana is great in any colour and the exile ability is immensely powerful, so much so that you could be tempted into running Trapjaw Tyrant in limited even if you’re not in white. I think that the sheer power of this white Dino is more than enough to give it mythic rare status, it’s a good use of the Enrage mechanic and balanced well enough. I’m going to say this ones a hit: I’m a fan of the aggressive cost, the on curve nature with huge Enrage effect and the flavour of the card.

Twilight Prophet

So Dark Confidant was really good right? Two mana, card advantage, all at the cost of some life each turn, that seems like a pretty obvious slam dunk, maybe even to the point of it being too good. Twilight Prophet acts as a four mana variant with a little twist. A good twist mind. Instead of losing the life like you did from Dark Confidant you gain that much and your opponent loses life, which can make for a decent clock if you hit enough mid to high costing cards. This effect is obviously really powerful and I like that It’s aggressively costed on a decent sized creature, as to stop Twilight Prophet dying in combat straight away for example. It’s also a good way of showcasing the new Ascend mechanic by coupling it with an effect that most players would love to try and utilise. All of this adds up to a hit from me, being a mythic isn’t always about splashy big effects and huge costs, sometimes a four drop with an incremental effect gets there.

Vraska, Scheming Gorgon

The second of our planeswalker deck planeswalkers is Vraska. I prefer Vraska to Angrath, Minotaur Pirate partly because she’s been more characterized and over time she’s become consistent in her printings. Another reason I prefer Vraska, Scheming Gorgon is that she’s a better planeswalker. Easier to cast, her first ability actually has an impact on the game, her ultimate is flavourful and most importantly she can protect herself with her second ability. This version of Vraska isn’t anything special but she does everything you need/want her to do well. Vraska, Scheming Gorgon hits the mythic mark for me because she feels like a planeswalker should, threatening and needing to be dealt with.

Zacama, Primal Calamity

Lastly, we have Zacama. I’m not going to be coy about this one, it’s a slam dunk mythic rare. Big, splashy, game changing, game winning and super flavourful. In Ixalan there are tonnes of ways to make your dinosaurs cheaper and all of those ways help Zacama to obliterate your opponent. Having an essentially free nine drop that then gives you access to shooting your opponent for nine, gaining nine life or even destroy three artifacts or enchantments - if there are enough lying around - is a brutal state of affairs that is hard for anyone to come back from. It’s difficult to justify why Zacama shouldn’t be a mythic rare, everything’s there and in a nice little three colour package.

That brings us to the end of our look through all of the mythic rates from Rivals Of Ixalan. We’ll be doing it all again soon but until then remember to keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates and also remember to check out Arcane Cards at https://arcanecardshop.co.uk/ for all of your magic singles and product needs.

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