Apostle of Purifying Light – Core Set 2020 MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

I always like when you get an effect like this on a creature – it’s never entirely dead, and you can maindeck it when you have to. I mentioned Withered Wretch in a different recent review, and this guy is sometimes even better. He certainly has a less specific mana cost, meaning that he might even show up in black decks. That’s before you even consider that a lot of decks can’t kill him under normal circumstances. It’s true that not all graveyard decks are black, and not all of them rely on black removal spells or blockers, but the number of qualities he has all in one place mean there’s a great chance of at least one of them being relevant.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5

Talk about a card meant to hit black where it hurts, both through protection and its activated ability. Being able to surgically remove graveyard cards is a strong ability, particularly with menaces like Arclight Phoenix running around Standard, and Apostle of Purifying Light is a nice way to keep decks like that more in check. It’s not going to be sufficient as a sole piece of graveyard hate to completely cripple decks like that, but it’s nice back-up to more robust hate. And don’t underrate its ability to end games, particularly against decks unable to block or answer it with kill spells. It’ll be a good sideboard piece in this Standard, with occasional main deck appearances as the meta asks for it.

Constructed: 3.75
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander: 3.5