Of all the Lords of Magic, this one is rivaled
only by Eladamri, Lord of Leaves in its ability
to protect as well as bolster the creatures it
champions. Not every Illusion in Magic has had
the "target me and make your Will save" ability
that the Illusions of M12 have, but quite a few
of them do, and Lord of the Unreal makes them as
real as any other creature. As for the ones that
don't, well, that's why the Lord grants hexproof
instead of shroud-- you can still throw your
Auras and Equipments on the likes of Krovikan
Mist and Fleeting Image.
I've heard this referred to as the "best lord of
all time," mainly because hexproof is such a
powerful ability. I'm not so sure of
that myself, not so much because of the
abilities, but more because he doesn't have as
many creatures to work with as predecessors like
Lord of Atlantis and Elvish Champion. Still, he
should be on your radar, either for potential
decks for yourself or as a potential opponent.
Illusions have access to not only a very
powerful lord and efficient creatures, but
counterspells and tempo effects, meaning that
they can attack in many ways. And like
every similar card, Lord of the Unreal will most
likely only get better as more sets are
released.
Today's card of the day is Lord of the Unreal
which is a two mana Blue
2/2 that gives +1/+1 and Hexproof to your
illusions. While there aren't many
illusions in the current Standard rotation all
four in 2012 are sacrificed when targeted and
greatly benefit from the addition of Hexproof.
The bear and image with this are a playable
baseline for an unexpected Blue offensive which
can even include the beast and dragon for the
full theme. Overall a very solid lord for
a small tribe which may be played on the
strength of a few members.
In Limited a two mana 2/2 lord that requires two
of the same color isn't very appealing unless
you happen to have several of the tribe in your
pool already. For a rare it is a somewhat
rough opening pick in your first pack as it
depends entirely on what you can draft later,
though if nothing else seems better illusions
can work well in the format. In Booster
you may be able to draft them, but in Sealed
having any might not happen and you will likely
need to play two colors as well.
