Soul's Attendant
You think it's another Soul Warden reprint? No,
it's a thousand times better than Soul Warden.
Why? Because it says "may". If its owner forgets
to gain the life, you don't have to stop the
game and rewind to figure out what his life
total is really supposed to be. If you forget,
you don't gain the life. Too bad for you. This
eliminates that wall-banger moment in
multiplayer where you alpha-strike an opponent
only to have him stop you and count creatures,
and it encourages players to learn to remember
their optional triggers.
Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 4
Limited- 3
Multiplayer- 4.25
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Soul's Attendant
Anyone who's ever seen one of my decks knows
that I love creatures with abilities, whether
they're static, activated, or triggered. Soul's
Attendant is a worthy addition to that
particular payroll, contributing to actual
combos with cards like Reveillark, synergies
with cards like Captain of the Watch, and simply
complicating life for opposing cards like Vitu-Ghazi.
She'll often be referred to as the "new Soul
Warden," but don't be fooled: the Attendant
would be appealing even if Exodus had never
existed. Play early, play often.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5 ("You can get your Punishing
Fire back . . . if you ask nicely.")
Magic The Gathering Card of the Day: Soul's
Attendant
Welcome back readers today's card of the day
is similar to Soul Warden except worse. The
ability to not gain a life when it would be
detrimental to you is so few and far in between
its pointless. The memory of players makes soul
warden for all intents and purposes a better
card. In standard it may see play against decks
that need to gain life, burn possibly? In
extended and eternal this card is alright but I
doubt it will see heavy play as its power level
is minuscule compared to other cards. In casual
and multiplayer having another play set of Soul
Wardens is nothing to scoff at, once again Soul
Warden was a mandatory effect this is not, I
cant help but feel this is Wizards toying with
us allowing players to make mistakes so
opponents can say “ Gotcha!'. In casual the life
gain of this card can help swing the game in
your favor and opponents may hesitate to use
removal on it. In limited I don't see it as a
high pick but if your in solid white its not
bad.
Today's card of the day is Soul's Attendant which
is exactly one word different from Soul Warden,
but that word makes a pretty big difference in
playing her. The may clause means it is not
mandatory to gain the life which can be
beneficial in a small number of situations, but
more often than not will just cause people to
forget to activate the trigger. If you always
remember the effect it is strictly better than
Soul Warden, but for everyone else this can be
harder to maintain.
For Limited this is an excellent card to draft
relatively early as a 1/1 for one is very good
early on and in any stage of the game the effect
is of at least some benefit. Multiples of these
function well together and as a common it is
likely to be available in some quantity. Any
White deck in Sealed should be running this as
there really is no drawback.
With Multiplayer this effect is magnified for
each additional player as putting this out on
the first turn can easily gain you three or more
life before your next upkeep. A very good choice
to include in swarm or life gain builds and a
target that can frustrate opponents at a very
low cost to you.
