I feel bad for Sarkhan. Not only did he happen
to get a really bad new boss in Nicol Bolas, any
card that depicts him seems to become the
subject of endless controversy. Personally, I
don't understand how drawing extra cards
or turning your creatures into dragons could
ever be a problem for anyone, but I guess
someone might have a different playstyle. I'd be
surprised if there's no room in mine for Sarkhan
the Mad, and I'd be surprised if there wasn't
any room in yours either.
Today's card of the day is Sarkhan the Mad
which is a Planeswalker without an ability to
add loyalty counters, but has three potentially
useful abilities. The draw a card ability
has no real drawback if a land or zero mana
casting cost artifact (or Kobold) is drawn, but
will can be a one-time deal if an Ultimatum or
other higher cost card is present. The
best timing depends on what is left in the
library and a bit of math, so it is a bit
situational. The second ability can turn a
major threat into something that may be a bit
more manageable, but is probably better suited
to turning your own tokens or Bloodghast into a
dragon to set up the ultimate. The
ultimate is quite nice and playable the turn
Sarkhan enters play which can win the game, but
does of course require enough power on your
dragons or a combination. Overall a good,
but not amazing Planeswalker that really needs a
Dragon Burn styled theme to shine.
For Limited the first ability is potentially a
one for one exchange if an Eldrazi is selected
and the ultimate isn't likely to be a big factor
with the format offering few other dragons to
have in your pool, so usage is even more
restrictive than the constructed formats.
Instead it is the second ability that makes this
a threat as turning the common 0/1 Eldrazi Spawn
tokens into dragons or an 11/11 Eldrazi into a
mere 5/5 without Annihilator can be a huge shift
to the battlefield. That ability alone
makes this a top choice in Booster and a good
candidate for building a deck around in Sealed.
