Where was this in Rise of the Eldrazi?! Oh wait,
it was called Overgrown Battlement. Does this
mean a defender subtheme? Will we see the return
of the first Ravnica block's Wakestone Gargoyle?
Come to think of it, where's all the Gargoyles?
Last Ravnica block had a bunch-- did they all
die? Are we waiting for the Orzhov's turn?
Oh wait, we were talking about a Druid, or
something, weren't we? This is... well, it's a
mana guy. In a multicolor block, which is cool.
Excpet it's not really up to Green's standards
for mana guys. It costs three, and to get more
than one mana out of it you need more Defenders.
Boy I hope they reprint Carven Caryatid then, I
guess. I don't think they're going too though.
I like Vine Trellis. Always have, always will.
I'm not 100% happy about the recent trend of
seemingly trying to obsolete cards that there
was never anything wrong with*. Yes, I know that
Axebane Guardian costs one more than most of the
classic green mana walls, but in a multicolored
world - which, it seems, is everything nowadays
- color fixing is worth more than the card's
weight in gold ('cause, y'know, cards don't
really weigh anything). There seems to be an
emphasis on midrange creatures in recent sets,
too, which means that in settings like Standard,
this will buy you more time than it looks. Time
on its own or color fixing on its own would be
good; both together is excellent.
*(Yes, I know the argument is that power
creep-looking cards can be played alongside old
favorites, not instead of them. Do you know
anyone who actually does so? If you do, you're
luckier than me.)
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Axebane Guardian an interesting mana ramper and
defensive creature. The 0/3 body is relevant
against aggressive two drops and early threats
from some aggressive decks but costing three
mana is slightly slow for the mana ramp aspect
as most accelerators cost one mana and provide a
lot of early mana development. In standard I
could see this card seeing a decent amount of
play as it provides an early blocker and mid
game mana ramp not allowing you an explosive
early start but a decent bump in the mid game.
That being said it won’t be widespread but it
will be more of a niche card. In modern there is
a lot of defenders so this should be a
hit*Sarcasm.* Seriously there is better mana
rampers and better ways to combat creature
aggression leaving this in the dust. In legacy
and vintage it wont see play it’s an awkward
card that doesn’t fill a role that decks need or
want and could be replaced if they do. In casual
and multiplayer it’s decent in a defender deck
and with the support from Overgrown Battlement
and cards like Vent Sentinel it’s a fun deck
that could do some interesting things. It is
also a human and a druid two relevant creature
types. In limited its decent mana fixing for
casting multicolor spells making it valuable.
Overall a card I think may see some niche
standard play and has a decent role in casual
and multiplayer as well as limited.
Today's card of the day is Axebane Guardian
which is a three mana Green
0/3 with Defender that taps to add mana of any
combination of colors equal to the number of
creatures with Defender you control. This is a
decent addition to the Defender theme that has
been gaining some support in recent sets and has
some potential for stalling or non-attack based
builds. Despite not being quite as good as
Overgrown Battlement in a mono-green deck it
does support a multicolor deck reasonably well
which offers more opportunities for the mana
production to be put towards an X or repeatable
cost.
For Limited this is a splashable form of
acceleration that can also help fix decks using
three or more colors in addition to stalling out
an early 2/2 or similar attacker. An easy
inclusion for any Sealed build using Green mana
and potentially draftable in multiples for
Booster early in weak packs or later depending
on the table. While not able to attack or deal
damage on defense is a drawback, nearly any
acceleration is good in the format and including
mana fixing plus the potential to block some
damage gives it value.
Welcome
to Pojo.com’s card of the day section. We have
been looking at Return to Ravnica this week, and
close out our week looking at Axebane Guardian.
Axebane Guardian is a common green creature
human druid. Axebane Guardian costs two generic
and one green mana and is a 0/3. Axebane
Guardian has defender. Axebane Guardian’s
ability is tap: add X mana in any combination of
colors to your mana pool, where X is the number
of creatures with defender you control.
Absolutely amazing. I love it! Two of these guys
net you four mana in any combination of colors,
not counting any other defenders you may have!
Mana ramp, crazy time! There is no telling what
you can do with all of the mana that these guys
will gain you. But there are certainly some
great options coming from Return to Ravnica.
Reminds me of Overgrown Battlement, and the two
of them should work amazingly together to
achieve a complete mana overload.
