Much to my astonishment, last week’s article about the legends of Invasion was lacking. In order to achieve the data required for my article, I used MtGNews.com’s "sort by (creature type)" function. Unfortunately, that function didn’t cover creature types of "Something Legend." So, instead of entertaining you with a clever introduction to this article, I have to jump right in to the end of last week’s article. Then, I’ll get on to the introduction.
Reya, Dawnbringer, 6WWW, 4/6.
Flying. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target creature card from your graveyard to play.
A 4/6 flying for nine? If that’s all it was, I’d rather have the non-tapping 5/5 Archangel for seven. But, Reya has a call to the dead; it says, "Live!" And, who are dead can resist the call of a Dawnbringer? I mean, she makes the sun rise, for crying out loud! Seriously, though, I can see one copy of this card in graveyard recursion-type decks. It goes very well with Recurring Nightmare (for all of you Extended players). Sac a creature to return a creature to play. Return the sacced creature to play during your upkeep. Wash, rinse, repeat. However, the huge casting cost is a burden, and there aren’t a whole lot of cards that put creatures directly from the grave into play without first stopping at your hand. But, we’ll see.
Atalya, Samite Master, 3WW, 2/3
X, T: Choose one: Prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn or you gain X life. Spend only white mana in this way.
Wowzers! She saves your creatures from combat damage! She keeps you going for an extra turn! She’s legendary! What more could you want from a Samite? She’s bigger than Orim, and she can work on bigger scales. Now, white mages have something constructive to do during opponents’ end steps. If you’re playing a mono white deck, you can gain at least five life a turn, and over a long game that amounts to be quite a bit. Plus, this card is great in multiplayer* because you often have plenty of mana. However, if you’re playing with this card, you’re probably playing with Soul Warden and Congregate as well, and that’s not too good for your physical health. Or so The Ferrett and Anthony Alongi tell us. (It’s true – The Ferrett, cracking his knuckles ominously)
Verdeloth the Ancient, 4GG, 4/7
Kicker X. All other Treefolk and Saprolings get +1/+1. When Verdeloth the Ancient comes into play, if you paid the kicker cost, but X 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens into play.
What is Verdeloth? He’s a Jhovall Queen that doubles as a Deranged Hermit. To me, that’s pretty sweet! Verdeloth is HUGE, and he brings with him a lot of mini-buddies when he comes to town… as long as you have the mana. But what’s mana when you’re playing green? Llanowar Elves, Vine Trellis, Birds of Paradise, Utopia Tree, Quirion Rangers, Heart Warden, and Skyshroud Elf are some of the green mana producers. Even though we’ve lost Gaea’s Cradle and Priest of Titania, green still has great mana acceleration. So, Verdeloth can be aided by tons of Saprolings. And, he aids them back by giving them +1/+1. A horde of 2/2s is nothing to sneeze at! And those Saprolings are going to stay 2/2s until your opponent can deal SEVEN damage to Verdeloth (or use targeted removal, but let’s not get into that).
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There. Now that that’s over with, I can get started on what I’d planned for this week. However, I am sad to admit that my plans will have to be slightly modified. Since I’ve already written about 700 words, I’ll need to pare down on my comparison of the new Dragon Legends to the Elder Dragon Legends of yore. I’ll simply be examining the new Dragon Legends as I have the rest of the lot. Perhaps the old goodies shall visit us in another article. But, let us focus on the present. Onward!
Crosis, the Purger; 3BUR, 6/6
Flying. Whenever Crosis, the Purger deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2B. If you do, choose a color. That player reveals his or her hand and discards all cards of that color from it.
Hey look! They made Persecute into a creature! Here’s the beauty of this card: You have a 6/6 flyer for six, which is good by itself. Also, when he smacks your opponent, you can spend mana to Persecute him. You get to see his hand, and, even if you choose a color that he’s not holding, next turn, you’ll know exactly what he has in his hand minus one card! He’s like a Laccolith Titan wearing Urza’s Glasses with a whip in hand, Persecuting his followers. You gotta love that vision!
Darigaaz, the Igniter; 3BGR; 6/6
Flying. Whenever Darigaaz, the Igniter deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2R. If you do, choose a color. That player reveals his or her hand, and Darigaaz deals 1 damage to him or her for each card revealed of that color.
Once again, Laccolith Titan is wearing Urza’s Glasses, but this time, he’s inflating himself to massive proportions. Getting smacked for six each turn is never pleasant, but showing your hand immediately afterwards and getting punished for being mana screwed of a color or daring to play a mono-colored deck REALLY sucks!
Dromar, the Banisher; 3BUW, 6/6
Flying. Whenever Dromar, the Banisher deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2U. If you do, choose a color. Return all creatures of that color to their owner’s hands.
You don’t get to look at the opponent’s hand with this one, but you do get to Magical Hack a Hibernation for the low, low cost of 2U. The problem that I see with this card is that if you choose blue, black, or white, you have to send Dromar back to your hand as well. You could cast Hibernation against green and Chill against red, so this alternate ability is probably the worst of them all. But, you never know. I’d be happy to return Dromar to my hand if it allowed me to send back a horde of creatures. Remember Invasion’s theme: Card advantage!
Rith, the Awakener; 3GRW; 6/6
Flying. Whenever Rith, the Awakener deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2G. If you do, choose a color. Put a 1/1 green Saproling token into play for each permanent of that color.
Wowzers! Once again, you get to smack your opponent for six, but this time you also get reinforcements for next time! (Verdeloth, anyone?) Plus, Rith has huge synergy with himself. Let’s say there are six white permanents out, two red ones, and three green ones. If you use his ability, naturally, you’re going to choose white. That’s six 1/1’s. Next time you attack, you choose green, and you get NINE more creatures! If none of them die, and your opponent still feels the Rith-y beatdown, you’ve got yourself a total of thirty saprolings out! Not bad for three turns’ work, is it? This is definitely the best of the new Dragon Legends.
Treva, the Renewer; 3UGW, 6/6
Flying. Whenever Treva, the Renewer deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2W. If you do, choose a color. You gain 1 life for each permanent of that color.
This isn’t quite as bad as Dromar because you don’t hurt yourself. However, it’s not much better than any of the other Dragon Legends. Life is considered to be the most frivolous of the resources in Magic by most competitive players. The general attitude is that gaining life is only delaying the inevitable, and you can win with only one life. Nevertheless, I’ve always liked lifegain, and you could use this in multiplayer to gain TONS of life without being the hated "white lifegain" player. Also, if you’re facing off against Rith or some green horde deck (that let you live till turn seven!), then choosing green is basically a Moat to them. And, if I remember correctly, Moat was a pretty good card, no?
Well, there it is. The coolest cards in Invasion, all packaged neatly into two articles. These Dragon Legends are pretty good, though, sadly, I don’t foresee them getting much playtime in tournaments. But casual players (like me!) are going to love them, and I heard a story where someone cast a Dragon Legend FIVE times in four matches at a booster draft. Not bad, eh? And, if you find that you don’t want these "useless cards," drop me a line. Perhaps we can make a deal.
–Daniel Crane
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* – Someone mentioned to me today that ALL games of Magic are multiplayer. Remember the first commercial? "All you need is a brain, a deck, and a friend." That "friend" makes each game comprised of multiple players, or a "multiplayer" game. Oh, the intricacies of English.