So is it Golgari Week or not? Vraska would be
the perfect headliner for the Golgari, wouldn't
she? Except that despite how good she is as
sending things to the graveyard, she cant'
really do anything with them once they're there,
so she doesn't really exemplify the Golgari way
of thinking.
She costs one more mana than Jace, for one more
starting loyalty-- a fair deal. And like Jace,
she has a +1 ability that helps protect her. In
this case, it's a No Mercy style effect to
dissuade the opponent from attacking her. Your
opponent will need to be willing to lose six
power's worth of creatures to kill Vraska the
turn after you cast her-- that is, if he doesn't
have a burn spell for six that could do it.
Her second ability, which she can't use twice
unless she +1's at least once, is an Abrupt
Decay without the converted mana cost drawback.
This week's COTD has come full circle I suppose.
Repeatable removal is even better than
repeatable mini-Fact or Fiction, since it
doesn't let the opponent make choices. At some
point before RtR rotates out, Vraska is going to
hit play and immediately kill Jace.
If you manage to charge up to her ultimate, you
get three 1/1 tokens who make a player LOSE THE
GAME if they can attack and hit that player.
Mind you, this requires you to keep Vraska alive
and undamaged for at least three turns, then
attack with a 1/1 with no evasion, no haste, and
no self-preservation ability, and expect your
opponent to not have a blocker. Or a kill spell.
Selesnya's populate cards could help here by
making more Assassin tokens, but that'll take
forever and your opponent has probably won the
game already by then. Unless you wiped the board
immediately before making the Assassins, you're
better off just using Vraska as a Vindicate on a
stick.
I always like seeing new planeswalkers. Of
course, I'd like them even better if we got to
know anything about them beyond maybe one
article on Wizards of the Coast's website, but
since my name isn't Brady Dommermuth, my vote
kind of doesn't count on that particular issue.
Even so, I do like Vraska. While giving
planeswalkers abilities that blatantly protect
themselves seems like "Hey please play this
card!!!" design, that ultimate ability is fun
for everybody and oh so exploitable. Literally
the only downside is that she instantly becomes
the biggest threat on the table and makes you
the biggest threat in the house. Probably worth
it (to put it mildly).
Today's card of the day is Vraska the Unseen
which is a five mana Black/Green planeswalker
with five loyalty and three effects. The
+1 destroys any creature that deals combat
damage to her until your next turn which isn't
bad defensively and should have most opponents
second guess any otherwise free attacks.
The -3 destroys any nonland permanent which is
impressive, usable the turn she comes into play
while still leaving two loyalty, and can be used
a second time with just one +1 activation.
The -7 can be a game winner if combined with
board clearing, unblockable effects, Haste, or
counter or token doubling.
Overall this is a card with potential that does
need some support to take advantage of the
ultimate, but the +1 and -3 combination alone is
worth the five mana investment.
In Limited this is an obvious choice for a
Golgari build, but can easily be splashed into
any guild based on either color. A
Green/White deck with a Black splash can
possibly get Populate with the tokens, though
that will often be excessive outside of a
stalemate. As is the +1 into the -7 combo
should win most games, or if needed that can be
delayed a few turns by first destroying the
biggest threat an opponent has with the -3.
A clear first pick in Booster and should be run
whenever possible in Sealed as even one instance
of the -3 for five mana is a steal.
Welcome back to
the Pojo.com card of the day section. We close
out our week by looking at Vraska the Unseen
from Return to Ravnica. Vraska the Unseen is a
mythic rare planeswalker Vraska that costs three
generic, one black, and one green mana. Vraska
enters the battlefield with 5 loyalty counters.
Vraska's first ability is a plus one and says
until you next turn, whenever a creature deals
combat damage to Vraska, destroy that creature.
Vraska's next ability is a mimus three and says
destroy target nonland permanent. Vraska's final
ability is a minus seven and says put three 1/1
black assassin creature tokens onto the
battlefield with "Whenever this creature deals
combat damage to a player, that player loses the
game."
Vraska the Unseen sure is being seen by people
now. While perhaps not the most cost effective
Planeswalker in the game, she is a devastation
waiting to happen. Whether you decide to blow
something up once Vraska hits the board, or
start protecting her and have your opponent hold
off on dropping targets for Vraska, she is
straight value once she is there. Now the
interesting parts begin once you are capable of
activating the final. Since you are running
green, there exists a chance of using Parallel
Lives in concert to ensure even more assassin
tokens. This can then become a nightmare for
your opponents.
While not the most powerful planeswalker ever, I
think Vraska is still a solid pick, and a very
great card that should see lots of play.
