It really doesn't feel like Chord of Calling was
last printed almost ten years ago. It's been
around in casual play in massive numbers, and
with good reason. The strategy of packing your
deck with all sorts of answer creatures and
comes-into-play abilities is quite difficult to
deal with (but note Hushwing Gryff from M15),
but even using it to get an extra elf to attack
or block with on demand is a solid deal.
Today's card of the day is Chord of Calling
which is a three Green mana and X instant with
Convoke that allows you to search your library
for a creature with converted mana cost of X or
lower and put it into the battlefield.
This is a powerful effect as an instant and is
an excellent play during or after the combat
step on the opponent's turn, though a decent
supply of mana and/or creatures is needed for
more than a minimal benefit. A token or
elf swarm deck using mana acceleration with some
heavy hitters or support are likely the top
choices for this as the three Green mana in the
cost require a solid baseline to reliably cast.
Overall this is a strong if somewhat specialized
card that will see some play at any level or
format where Green can fill the battlefield with
creatures or mana sources.
In Limited this is more likely to be cast with
lands providing the majority of the mana and is
still worthwhile as a Flash speed creature of
your choice from the deck. Whether used in
combat to produce a surprise blocker or at the
end of the opponent's turn it is a strong
addition to any Green build. A solid first
pick in Booster as it is a useful topdeck and
can be played at nearly any stage of the game
for some benefit. In Sealed it is an
automatic inclusion when using Green as the
primary color, though it is difficult to manage
when the deck isn't using a majority of Forests
or Green creatures.
A lot has been made of this reprint, as Chord
was a popular Modern card already. Now in
standard, will it have a big impact? Possibly.
The X in the cost makes it unlikely that you're
going to use this to search out your big
expensive monsters, so it's probably more of a
way to find your combo pieces. The triple green
in the deck means that you have to have heavy
green in your deck to play this reliably.
I can imagine partnering this card with
yesterday's COTD: Nissa Worldwaker. Play Nissa
on turn 3 or 4 (thanks to acceleration), then
untap next turn, tap all your forests, untap
them with Nissa, then tap them again for Chord
of Calling that can search out your 6 drop of
choice.
