The most powerful and impactful planeswalkers
have been the ones that come down early, since
building up loyalty is usually a slow process.
Sarkhan doesn't hit play until turn five, but
his +1 has a lot more immediate board impact
than most other 'walkers. If this were just a
4/4 dragon for five with flaying, haste, and
indestructible, that'd be amazing. It isn't
though-- there's still the fact that he can lose
loyalty on your opponent's turn by being
attacked. But he also gets more bonuses than
that. If you don't need a 4/4 flyer, or just
need something else dead more, you can use his
-3 to burn out a creature. Sarkhan comes with
enough starting loyalty to do this immediately,
but will almost certainly bite it afterwards
unless you kill your opponent's only creature.
That makes him your choice of a 4/4 hasty flyer
OR a kill spell for five mana-- definitely worth
the price.
Sarkhan's Ultimate is an interesting ability--
you draw an extra two cards every turn, but
you're not allowed to keep any of them. Cast
them on your turn or not at all! It's a very Red
approach to draw, and I like that Red has
started to carve its own niche in the card-draw
game, but I think that honestly Sarkhan's first
two abilities are far more generally useful.
Which is fine, since they're the ones he'll live
long enough to use.
I've seen Sarkhan's other cards numerous times
since their respective releases, but I never
noticed that his clothes were world-appropriate
for Tarkir until just now. Did they change his
costume when the world was designed? Or did they
design the world based on his costume? I'd like
to believe it was the latter!
Considering that Magic is the spiritual
descendant of Dungeons and Dragons, they haven't
always done enough over the years to include
references to dragons and really, truly let you
harness their powers. (I also love that his
ultimate is a reference to iconic cards like
Dragon Mage and Wheel of Fortune. If there's an
idea that red should be about more than "Yahhhh
fire", look to the past as well as the future.) Sarkhan
is a welcome step in that direction, and is the
sort of card that adds another gear to both
aggressive and controlling strategies. "Huge
aerial attack with no warning" is a nightmare
for any opponent, and Sarkhan's -3 is a decent
hedge against one of the common answers to
planeswalkers (as in, it kills things that
Lightning Strike can't).
Today's card of the day is Sarkhan, the
Dragonspeaker which is a five mana Red
planeswalker with four loyalty. The +1
makes him a Legendary
4/4 Red dragon with Flying, Indestructible and
Haste until end of turn.
This is a very useful effect to increase loyalty
with as it is a solid threat offensively and
will either deal some damage or likely destroy a
blocker. The -3 deals four damage to
target creature which is useful as removal, but
somewhat situational compared to repeatedly
using the +1.
The -6 gives you an emblem that has you draw two
extra cards at the draw step then at the end
step you discard your hand. This is also
quite situational, but in a lower mana curve
aggressive or burn deck has few real drawbacks
as the hand can easily be played each turn.
Overall this Sarkhan is a nice fit at the top of
the mana curve in a very aggressive deck as it
applies pressure both as a creature and later by
filling the hand, so it will see at least some
play across current formats.
In Limited this is a very easy first pick in
Booster and top choice in Sealed as a difficult
to remove 4/4 with evasion and Haste if for no
other reason. The other effects definitely
have situational value and this is a top card in
the format, particularly as one that isn't three
colors which allows many different decks to
include it.
Planeswalkers are always among the most
anticipated and most powerful cards in the set.
Sarkhan does not disappoint. At very least, you
can pay 5 mana for a 4/4 flier with haste, which
seems to remind me of another pretty popular
creature named Stormbreath, but perhaps even
better on offense because it is indestructible.
If swinging with a 4/4 dragon isn't what the
circumstance calls for, you can take out an
opposing Stormbreath (or other 4 toughness
creature).
The emblem might at fist seem less powerful than
some, and perhaps it is, but it gives you an
additional three cards each turn. Discarding
your hand at the end of the turn is not as big a
problem as it sounds. If you have worked Sarkhan
up to his ultimate, you had to have at least 5
mana to play him in the first place, then 3
turns later, you might have 2-3 more. If you
build your deck with enough inexpensive spells,
you can probably play most if not all of those
three cards you draw each turn. Your opponent is
going to have a really hard time keeping up with
that pace. And again, there are a lot of
strategies where you actually want something in
your graveyard, so it could be used for that
advantage as well.
Some planeswalkers are very tailored towards
certain decks, but Sarkhan is not. Unless you're
playing a super fast burn deck, there aren't too
many times when a deck that can support 2 red
mana symbols isn't going to improve with the
Dragonspeaker's presence.
