Body of Research – Strixhaven
Date Reviewed: May 14, 2021
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.50
Casual: 4.38
Limited: 3.50
Multiplayer: 3.00
Commander [EDH]: 3.38
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
I didn’t get around to it in my gameplay-free review of Strixhaven, but another thing I like about the set is the whimsical elements. You wouldn’t usually see a pun like this card’s name outside of an Un-set, and to be honest, I’m not really sure why. Things are better when they’re not always (to quote South Park) super duper cereal – and in an odd way, they’re more serious too.
You certainly get a good payoff for that ridiculously prohibitive mana cost. Green-blue decks should be able to ramp to its mana cost reasonably well, but I think a lot of decks will get mileage out of doing something sneakier and/or cuter. Torrential Gearhulk, for example, doesn’t get you a discount in terms of mana value, but it’s certainly much more straightforward to cast; and the fact that it uses +1/+1 counters can be relevant in some interactions. It’s also a hilarious alternate win condition for Battle of Wits decks – I’m just putting that out there!
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5
Body of Research is…well, it’s certainly impressive. While it’s just a body, we’re talking about a potentially massive body unless things have been going horribly wrong; the floor for this is a 10/10 for 6 mana, and that’s not bad. But if this is closer to a 20/20 or larger, things get really rude, especially since Quandrix does have some support for token creatures. The downsides are fairly clear: the token can be chump blocked all day, Body of Research wants to be cast as quickly as possible, and it’s six colored mana! There will definitely be games where this spell brings a rapid end to proceedings, though, and it seems like a surprisingly effective choice for finisher in a deck that might have it on hand.
Constructed: 3 (aided by Simic/Quandrix being very strong, but I don’t know if they want to play this card in particular)
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.75 (earlier is better)
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