Golos, Tireless Pilgrim – Core Set 2020 MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

I always thought that when I joked about Advisor Tribal as a way of referring to a whole raft of cards related to minor tribes, it was just a joke. Yet we now have a legendary Scout, which is a creature type I barely even notice. Can we have a legendary Beeble in the next Commander set?

Golos is a creature version of some of the “chaos” type cards we’ve seen in various sets, with the major twist of being a creature. That obviously makes him a very desirable commodity for Commander, where that mana cost straight outta Apocalypse means you can pack his deck with every big spell you’ve previously been using only for Type 4. The requirement for lots of mana in five colors means he’s probably not going to do too much outside of Commander, but the things he’s going to do in Commander are pretty insane. I wouldn’t bet on someone hitting three Eldrazi elders in one activation more than once this century, but I shudder just to think about it.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

Another of the Commander/Brawl plants of Core Set 2020, thanks to being technically colorless but having a five-colored color identity, Golos is a pretty interesting piece for those decks. Being able to play three free spells a turn is a very powerful effect (and you also can play lands off of Golos if you have land plays left), and seven mana is a fair price for the effect…even if it’s asking for all five colors in the process. Golos can help with that somewhat, though, by getting a land from your deck when it comes into play…any land, at that.

I think Golos is not going to do much in Constructed; it can start firing the turn after it resolves, but the body is fragile and has pretty steep demands on deck construction. But both Brawl and Commander might be more friendly places for Golos, as you can build around that powerful effect more readily, and you can use lands more able to correct mana to get that effect off.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander: 3.75