Dream Trawler – Theros Beyond Death MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Every set has a big, tough, nasty blue flying creature, some of which are good well beyond the context of the set. Dream Trawler is quite likely that kind of creature, as its power can get boosted frighteningly by a blue deck doing normal blue things. Of course, it wouldn’t be quite as good if it didn’t also has the white ability lifelink, making it hard for aggressive opponents to launch a comeback. I like the self-protection ability too, although it’s notably better on offense than defense; control decks do sometimes need to be able to use their finisher to block, but other than occasionally being tapped when you don’t want it to be, Dream Trawler is actually solid all around.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5 

If control decks are a thing in this standard, Dream Trawler is going to be a very happy sphinx. It’s a nearly impossible to kill finisher for control decks: it gets bigger off of drawing cards, it draws you even more cards, 5 toughness is hard enough to beat over, and it even can protect itself by discarding one card. On most turns, it’s attacking as a functional 5/5 (or larger) with lifelink, and it’s not hard to outrace opponents to a ludicrous degree without too much effort. A color-intensive mana requirement will constrain the decks Dream Trawler can appear in effectively, but it’s very powerful if you can support it.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 5 (there are few options to get rid of this)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander: 4.25

Phat
Pack
Magic
YouTube

Hello everyone and welcome back to Pojo’s Card of the Day!

Today we’re taking a look at a chonky Azorius finisher that isn’t a Planeswalker this season! When I saw the spoiler for Dream Trawler it really had me thinking about the previous incarnation of this card, Dragonlord Ojutai and it gives a bit of a baseline of where we can see this card.

First off let’s talk about this boy in limited, his colors are incredibly heavy so he’s not much of a splashable rare as he is a dedicated pick. In hardcore competitive drafts there’s a chance if you’re not already in UW you’re probably shipping this card down the river and avoiding those two colors entirely throughout the pack… Unless he wheels (he won’t.) Now if you’re playing for fun at a draft, or doing something like Theros FNM draft, then chances are you’ll snag this guy asap and do pretty well in the draft as card advantage, and a way to protect himself by turning all your excess cards in hand into a Blossoming Defense sans the p/t bonus. The fact that it’s also free to ‘cast’ the blossoming defense puts another point in favor of this card.

The only problem with this card is that the hexproof comes with a ‘Tap it’ clause which I think is unnecessary for this card, especially since it has lifelink! However with removal being so few and far between in limited this card is a bomb-diggity-bob-omb that will probably put you out of reach really quickly after a swing or two, and drawing extra cards off the attack is pivotal as well!

In commander I don’t think this guy is going to do so much, six mana is a heavy investment and there’s much stronger and more versatile threats at less costly CMC, *coughTefericough*

I think the current Standard Season is going to be great for this guy, he’s able to play a bit of defense with his lifelink ability and while they’re going to be able to twiddle this guy a few times at the cost of your excess lands he’s going to pair very well with Teferi, Time Raveler and the new 4 mana Day of Judgment in Standard. I’m also very interested in this card because an Azorius Control deck made it to the finals of last weeks Pioneer FNM after 5 rounds and this was one of his finishers.

Lastly, in Cube I’m also curious about this card but I don’t think it’s as strong as Dragonlord Ojutai who is more splashable in his color restrictions and also plays defense much better by not being tappable and having hexproof without any investment. There is the argument that this guy attacks better and the lifelink is very relevant, but we’ll have to see. I think I’ll pick up a full art foil copy of him to test out.

Constructed 3.5/5 – I think he’ll be a good standard finisher, at least until we get a Papa Teferi planeswalker again.

Limited 5/5 – So amazing, following ‘BREAD’ he’s the Bomb you’re looking for. Color restrictive but as long as it’s not too late in Pack 2 you can make him work.

Commander 2/5 – Weaker here but fine if you’re looking to play a control deck in Commander.

Cube 3/5 – There’s many arguments against this guy vs Ojutai, I think Ojutai wins out based on colorless rocks and general CMC, but testing is warranted.

Phat Pack Magic is a channel dedicated to Magic: the Gathering and creating awesome coverage of local events for formats like Cube, rare pack drafts, and now FNM Pioneer videos! Check it out at YouTube.com/PhatPackMagic