I was very surprised how strong the reanimation
ability on this card is. Yes, she herself costs
seven mana, but the reanimation ability is
technically zero mana. Every turn she's in play.
And more often with the right support. And while
it's true that requiring a Plains to come back
directly to play is a restriction, we live in
the age of Prairie Stream and Godless Shrine. If
the Eldrazi didn't have a lot of abilities
related to exile, Standard might have been in
some trouble.
Today's card of the day is Emeria Shepherd
which is a seven mana White
4/4 with Flying and a Landfall ability that puts
a non-land card from grave into hand or can put
it into play if the land was a Plains.
This is an extremely powerful effect in a
mono-White deck, though the high mana cost
limits the potential dramatically without some
kind of support. In a format where this
can enter play before the very end of a game
this can be devastating with multiple land drops
through fetch lands even with some entering
hand. This will see play in Commander and
Multiplayer, though the late game nature or
required Green/White design for acceleration
should keep it from being very popular
elsewhere.
In Limited this may be a 4/4 with evasion, but
the seven mana cost and requiring Landfall keep
it from being a top card. It is still
strong and generally worth a first pick in
Booster, but other rares can do more for less
and offer a bigger battlefield presence.
In Sealed it depends on the pool as the high
mana cost and lower power and toughness may not
stand up against the large threat in the set. A
lower curve and more aggressive build might win
out, though with White as a primary color and a
slower deck this is a solid endgame enabler.
