Illuna, Apex of Wishes – Ikoria MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Illuna is a different take on Ikoria‘s “mutate tribal” concept – the reason you’re allowed to put the revealed card into your hand, when we might expect that putting it into play would usually be better, is in case you get another mutating creature to add to the pile. With just the one set, it might be hard to put together enough mutate cards for a deck, particularly if you’re also abiding by Commander color restrictions. One thing favoring Illuna as the centerpiece of such a theme deck are those base stats: being both hard to solve and hard to block is the ideal place to start a big pile of mutate cards.

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

A free permanent every time Illuna mutates is very powerful, and being able to curve into the Beast in Show on turn 5 is pretty nuts; as long as your board hasn’t been picked apart, it shouldn’t be hard to pay Illuna’s mutate cost (and it makes it playable even in a straight Simic shell). A 6/6 with flying and trample is also a pretty good deal, to boot. I can see Illuna getting out of hand really quickly, especially if you get it mutated out from the outset, though the mana cost (mutate or otherwise) can be a bit hard to work around in needing lots of specific mana.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander: 4