Seeing this hit the table on the other guy's
side of the board is never fun. Suddenly every
single creature they drop is that much harder to
block, is swinging at you without tapping, has
first strike if you can block it, and has haste.
And if you're playing black or red? Topdeck a
Shatter right now or scoop. That's all there is
to it.
Of course, dropping Akroma's Memorial doesn't
win you the game outright. You still actually
need a creature or two, and you still actually
have to swing with them a few times. I'm
grateful lifelink isn't on the list of keywords
this thing grants, otherwise it would be an even
harsher rout. Still, I think Akroma's Memorial
definitely deserves to be a mythic rare-- it's
game-changing and incredibly powerful in a way
that's easy to understand at first glance,
without being too powerful to ever hope to
overcome.
The benefits of the abilities granted by
Akroma's Memorial are just about as obvious as
the benefits of the original Angel of Wrath's
abilities, so I thought I'd use this space to
mention some of the interactions you may not
have noticed. If you steal a creature with
Switcheroo or Mark of Mutiny, that creature has
all the abilities for as long as you control it.
If you find a way to turn the Memorial itself
into a creature, it can smash people just as
spectacularly as Akroma herself. If you have
creature lands like Treetop Village or Stirring
Wildwood, the Memorial further reduces the
number of ways there are to stop them for good.
All these reasons, and more besides, illustrate
just how amazing Akroma's Memorial really is.
Today's card of the day is Akroma's Memorial
which is a seven mana artifact that gives your
creatures Flying, First Strike, Vigilance,
Trample, Haste, and Protection from Red and
Black. This is a card that makes decent
creatures into major threats, particularly in
Multiplayer thanks to Vigilance and Protection,
but is fairly expensive and doesn't impact a
game much more than a lower cost card that has a
single effect that benefits your deck most.
With Blue's artifact acceleration this can work
a bit more readily though single target cards
might be easier to manage than several creatures
on top of the other themes in such a build.
For Limited this can make what creatures you
have very difficult to stop and basically hands
you a victory against Red, Black, or Red/Black
decks. It doesn't work well as a topdeck
or in most situations when you are not already
winning and often a solid creature can have more
of an impact. Despite that this is a
powerful card and shouldn't be passed in Booster
as it can be played in any deck and really only
has the same drawback as an equipment card while
working on any creatures you have in play.
Sealed nearly always benefits from artifacts as
well which should keep this in most decks unless
the mana curve is kept unusually tight for the
set.
