For four mana, a three-power flier is pretty
darn skippy. Just look at Snapping Drake--
that's been good in every Limited format it's
ever been printed in. This has 4 toughness,
putting it out of not only Volcanic Fallout
range, but also Lightning Bolt range, AND as if
that weren't impressive enough, it has an
ability to protect your life total. Swarms of
1/1 tokens got you down? With this gal out, they
don't even touch you. Suddenly all your
opponent's unblocked attacks look pretty weak,
and that aforementioned Fallout only zaps you
for 1 instead of 2.
This is a cool card in general, but it doesn't
really leap out as having any very specific
applications beyond a theme deck; back when
Plated Pegasus had this ability, we knew it was
around to fight storm decks with Grapeshot.
There's nothing similar that's big right now . .
. unless, Wizards knows something about Zendikar
they aren't telling . . .
Today's card of the day is Guardian Seraph a White
card that basically says Circle of Protection: 1
as it prevents one damage from each source an
opponent uses against you. Aside from negating
the effect of many types of damage cards it also
drastically reduces to potency of any swarm of
small creatures.
In Constructed a four mana 3/4 Flying creature
is decent and the effect isn't bad, but it isn't
really a game winning play or easily part of a
combo either. Potentially a sidedeck card
depending on the metagame, but not a prime
choice to build a deck around a reactive
ability.
To Casual the reactive nature limits the fun
aspect, but depending on the metagame again you
may run into more swarm type decks. One or two
of these angels and your opponent can be almost
completely harmless.
Just watch out for instants if you plan on
letting an entire army go unblocked.
For Limited this an extremely handy card as the
3/4 Flying is almost enough to play it alone.
The double white hurts a little, but the effect
more than makes up for it. In a heavily creature
based setting anything that reduces their
effectiveness for no upkeep is solid gold.
Also, this angel is tough to kill outside of
Black and should really be kept in booster draft
when you open it. In sealed the card has high
value and unless you have no support or a
stronger offensive build in other colors it
should be included in a primarily White build.
With Multiplayer the key wording is an opponent,
meaning no matter who attacks or targets you,
the effect will reduce the damage. An extremely
useful card here and the kind of card that both
buys you time and wears a large target on their
back. It is generally not cost efficient to kill
you as a player when this card is on the field,
so use that to your advantage. If you have a
deck built around staying alive and life total
this is a good fit and can help you get towards
the end game.
