I knew a girl named Thalia once. It's always a
little weird when legendary creatures share a
first name with people you know. I did quite the
double take when reading Ella Minnow Pea and
discovering that Elspeth is a real girl's name,
not something the folks in Magic creative made
up. I honestly had never heard the name before
that.
Back on topic, this is an excellent card for any
aggressive white strategy. Two power with first
strike for two mana is a time-honored tradition
in White, and Thalia upholds it well while
slowing down anything your opponent might do
other than play more creatures. Thalia would
make a fine commander of any white aggro EDH
deck, as you'd be guaranteed a two-drop and
you'd snag your opponents' early plans, buying
you precious time to get in for extra general
damage. I feel like that deck would also run
Lodestone Golem.
While I can't help but think that blocking
noncreature spells seems like another of green's
rightful areas of the color pie that white has
been given, it's hard to complain about what
Thalia offers to constructed decks. Being a mana
cheaper than Glowrider makes her a real
contender for formats with older cards, and
first strike makes her relevant against other
creatures. Standard has a lot of
creature-related decks right now, but control
invariably becomes more popular at the end of
the season; when it does, there's going to be a
real problem revolving around a creature that
attacks before they're set up and makes Doom
Blade cost what it should have in the first
place.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
an interesting new legendary creature with a
powerful impact on the game. In standard it’s a
2/1 first strike with only a semi relevant
ability as storm doesent exist in standard the
best you can do is just punish people who run an
absurdly high amount of spells in their decks
which isn’t that bad I feel this will see niche
play in standard and be a highly competitive
card. In extended and modern there exists a
subset of decks that want to cast a lot of
spells of the non-creature variety and this puts
a hurting on them making it harder for them to
combo out. In legacy is where I suspect this
card to see a fair amount of play, in the same
vein ad Ethersworn Cannonist hate cards like
this are certainly powerful especially since
storm decks are a real threat. In vintage im not
sure but it could see fringe play. In casual and
multiplayer this is a new commander so that is
always a positive this one encourages you to
build lots of creatures, otherwise most
multiplayer and casual players love creatures
making this a slight annoyance and not a back
breaking card like in other formats. In limited
it’s a splashable 2/1 first strike which is
solid it also is a human which is extremely
relevant. Overall a power hate card that serves
its purposes well and provides early beats and
can hold down the ground.
Today's card of the day is Thalia, Guardian of
Thraben which is a two mana legendary White 2/1
human soldier with First Strike that adds one to
the mana cost of non-creatures. This is a
card that will see play across formats as a new
staple to White, human, and soldier decks by
hindering the threat of control and other spell
heavy themes. Having one toughness and
Legendary status in addition to increasing the
cost of some of your spells are noticeable
drawbacks, but those are drastically mitigated
by having First Strike to protect it in battle
and the likely bigger impact on an opponent's
tempo. Overall this is a major addition to
White and will see serious play for a very long
time.
In Limited the format is generally creature
heavy and has a higher average casting cost of
spells, leaving excessive mana in the later
stages of a game. Thalia entering play
early enough can keep an opponent from casting
many spells in a timely manner in relation to
the unmodified mana cost. Even without the
effect a two mana 2/1 with First Strike and
supported types is playable throughout the game.
An easy first pick in Booster and barring a pool
with few playable creatures a worthwhile
addition to any Sealed with or splashing White.
Welcome to the card of
the day section here at Pojo.com! Today we
continue looking at Dark Ascension with a review
of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Thalia, Guardian
of Thraben is a rare 2/1 legendary human soldier
that costs one generic and one white mana.
Thalia, Guradian of Thraben has first strike and
says that non-creature spells cost one more
generic mana to cast.
Definitely a great rare, if you are running a creature
based deck. While thalia is a human soldier, I
find her particularly useful running in a
green/white werewolf deck. Since non-creature
spells with cost more, it will limit the amount
of things your opponents will be able to do,
more than limiting you, especially on your turn.
Counterspells will all costs one more mana,
maybe then they won’t have enough mana to
counter one of your creatures.
While not as equally good as what this card is similar
to, Grand Arbiter Augustine IV, she gives that
kind of ability back to standard play.
