I'm kind of surprised at how many multicolor
cards Dark Ascension has. Usually there's one
cycle of them at most, unless mutlicolor is a
theme of the set. Not that I'm complaining, mind
you. Nor am I complaining about getting
indestructibility in black and red, two colors
which tend not to get it unless you count
artifacts. I've always thought that
indestructibility made so much sense in red. Red
is a reckless color, and being invulnerable
makes it so much easier to be reckless.
Falkenrath Aristocrat is far from invulnerable.
A 4-power flyer with haste for four mana is an
excellent aggressive play, and a sizeable
target. With that one toughness, you'll need to
sacrifice quite a few creatures just to keep Her
Lordship alive for a few turns. But if those
creatures were Humans, the Aristocrat's
miniscule backside will be suitably inflated in
due course, as will her ability to hit your
opponent. Just one or two Human sacrifices will
put her in Dragon-caliber territory, and from
there not even the sky is the limit. But are
there enough playable Humans in black and red to
make that feasible? Well, Stormblood Berserker
is still in Standard, along with all the Vulshok
humans from Scars of Mirrodin. In black, there's
Skirsdag High Priest who will thank you for
sacrificing a creature, and Village Cannibals
who also supports the sacrificing of Humans.
There's also plenty of Act of Treason effects
for when your opponent inevitably plays a Human.
Humans do have a tendency to show up in all
sorts of places, don't they?
By any definition, Falkenrath Aristocrat is all
upside, but she feels rather fair about it.
Flying and haste on the one four-mana creature
are definitely above the curve, but red and
black may not always have something to back her
up with. The ability to become indestructible
almost at will is powerful, but requires that
you build your deck around it (and all the good
Human token cards are white!). As a card that's
more than powerful enough for any tribal or
non-tribal deck on its own, and can even be a
non-obvious combo or synergy piece with some
effort, I have no doubt Falkenrath Aristocrat
will be a very popular card.
Today's card of the day is Falkenrath
Aristocrat which is a four mana Red and Black
4/1 with Flying, Haste, and can become
indestructible for a turn by sacrificing a
creature with a +1/+1 counter gained if that
creature was human. While this is a very
aggressive card it really needs support to
either increase the low toughness or a supply of
tokens to keep it viable. There are
thirty-six Red or Black humans in Standard
currently which may sound like a large pool to
choose from, but eleven of them cost four mana
or more which makes them a poor sacrifice
choice. A variety of designs can still be
made with a human theme, a vampire theme, a
blending of the two or adding a third color. In
any build it is likely to do some damage and be
worth playing, though getting the most out of
the Aristocrat while managing the battlefield
takes some effort.
For Limited the low toughness and two color
casting cost are noticeable drawbacks, but
Red/Black works well and even one successful
attack is enough value. Haste and Flying
are a solid combination and being able to keep
it in play against most removal options can be
difficult for an opponent to deal with if they
lack Flying to block. Even with a few
flaws it is a good first pick in Booster which
can be supported through later choices and the
natural synergy with Red and Black in this set
should be viable in most Sealed pools as well.
Welcome to
Pojo.com’s Card of the Day section. Today we are
taking a look at Falkenrath Noble from Dark
Ascension. Falkenrath Noble is a mythic rare
creature vampire that is a 4/1. Falkenrath Noble
has flying and haste, and says that you may
sacrifice a creature to make Falkenrath Noble
Indestructible until end of turn. If the
sacrificed creature was human, put a +1/+1
counter on Falkenrath Noble.
Probably one of the most overlooked mythic rares
when compared to the Huntsmaster of the Fells or
Havengul Lich, but should definitely not be.
Flying and haste are two really great abilities
that usually mean it is hard to block, since the
moment that the coast is clear, you send in this
massive threat. And in the event something does
become too big, a simple sacrifice makes her
indestructible until end of turn. And what is
better, if the offering was human, she gets
stronger for next time!
There are plenty of good cards to feed the hunger
of the Falkenrath Noble, although they mainly
lie in white, so trying to make a tri-colored
deck seems hard to pull off, but let’s not
forge, there are some other great option lying
in black itself, such as the Bitterheart Witch.
Once sacrificed to the Noble, you would give her
indestructibility and a +1/+1 counter, then due
to the Witch’s ability be able to go and grab
any curse from your library and put it onto the
battlefield attached to an oppnent. If doing
this in response to attacking, grabing Curse of
Bloodletting means the Falkenrath Noble would
deal double damage to the player should the
attack hit home.
