Exemplar of Light – Foundations
Date Reviewed: January 15, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.50
Casual: 4.63
Limited: 4.00
Multiplayer: 3.63
Commander [EDH]: 3.88
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
I’ve had one-card combos on my mind recently, as you may have noticed a minor trend in recent cards (just for the last decade or so!). Exemplar of Light is not quite a one-card combo, but it is close to one – it takes just one card to set it off, and it’s only the “once each turn” clause that keeps it from becoming absolutely ridiculous. The cool thing about it is that it suggests either a payoff for a lifegain deck or the top end of an aggro deck with cards like Luminarch Aspirant – both of them need to draw more of their key cards at the time the Exemplar is coming online.
As if that wasn’t enough, I’ll just add that from a non-gameplay perspective, I like how many of Foundations‘ angels are clearly indicated as being from Zendikar. I’ve always found the way Zendikar’s angels have haloes that cover their eyes to be very cool and actually a little intimidating. We usually feel it’s a good thing when justice is blind, but the eyes are the windows to the soul, and if they’re barred . . .
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.5
Exemplar of Light is an interesting way to pay off white’s life gain, and the particular thing that makes this interesting is when it’s paired with, say, a creature like Soul Warden. It itself lacks means to trigger its own ability, but it’s not too hard to get this rolling into both a threat and a resource engine, since this triggers once a turn for the card (but once whenever you gain life, regardless of qualtity). While the body is a bit lacking on its own, it’s still a nice clock with which you can threaten an opponent, and though I feel like this is going to be more of a casual card, the right tools could turn this into quite a powerhouse.
Constructed: 3.5 (needs a bit too much to get rolling in Standard, I suspect)
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4 (evasion wins games)
Multiplayer: 3.75 (once each turn, mind)
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
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