For seven mana, you expect a pretty
game-changing effect, and this card delivers.
It's a 4/7 with vigilance, able to swing hard
and still block-- and survive pretty much any
oncoming attacker your opponent can be expected
to have. It's also a removal spell, for one of
each opponent's creatures. That makes it great
in multiplayer, the land of bombastic creatures
and unstable alliances. With Luminate, you can
take out everybody's best at once and give
yourself a handy attacker that can still hold
off the onslaught they may send your way. Or, if
you've made an ally, you can show your loyalty
by exiling one of their smaller creatures
instead-- you don't actually have to, since the
card says "up to one", but alliances do tend to
inevitably turn sour and you might as well take
the opportunity to chisel away at their defenses
without upsetting them. Nobody really reads
their opponents' cards that throughly, so if you
exile a small creature, it'll never occur to
them that you had the chance to exile nothing.
Go big, as the saying says, or go home. This is
not the most obviously powerful of the
Primordials - a lot of people think of Swords to
Plowshares' game text as something you need in
the early game, not on a creature that otherwise
looks like a "closer," but my experience is that
it's not always so cut and dried. It's too
simplistic and, yes, too easy to rely on your
undercosted answers (in seasons when you have
them) and toss in any old seven-mana creature to
be your closer when your opponent is out of
stuff. A closer who can pull you level or ahead
when you weren't to begin with, and who you can
tap out to cast and usually be certain he's not
going to get burned down - that's golden.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
one fifth of the amazing multiplayer cycle from
Gatecrash. Seven mana is a decent investment and
a 4/7 vigilant body while decent is not exactly
worthy for play in competitive events. This
cards main purpose is to be played in casual and
multiplayer where it can deal with a large
amount of problem creatures and scales extremely
well into games with multiple opponents and
vigilance is one of the best abilities for
creatures in multiplayer making this a star on
offense and defense. Combine this with ways to
gets its enter the battlefield ability multiple
times to wipe the board but be careful of the
large life gain. In limited sealed decks this
guy is a powerful bomb and in draft it could be
powerful but seven mana is expensive but a solid
card. Overall one of the more powerful
multiplayer themed cards printed in a while and
will dominate kitchen tables but perhaps not
elsewhere.
Today's card of the day is Luminate Primordial
which is a White seven mana 4/7 with Vigilance
that exiles one creature each opponent controls
and they gain life equal to the power of the
creature they lost. This costs a
noticeable amount of mana, has low power for the
price, and gives the opponent life. Those
three drawbacks are not overcome by removing one
threat and having Vigilance which leaves this as
a subpar option for White when they have far
better choices to fulfill a similar role.
In Limited the cost isn't as big of a concern,
but the creature itself just isn't very
impressive even with the Vigilance. There
are other more flexible removal options without
the life gain penalty and usable earlier in the
game. It can be played in Sealed, though
Orzhov and Boros don't fit the life gain and
higher cost aspects very well. In Booster
this is not a compelling first pick over lower
cost removal or evasive creatures and generally
doesn't have a role in most builds.
Welcome to another week of card of the day
reviews here at Pojo.com. Today, we are looking
at Luminate Primordial from Gatecrash. Luminate
Primordial is a rare white creature avatar that
costs five generic and two white mana for a 4/7
with Vigilance. Luminate Primordial says when it
enters the battlefield, for each opponent, exile
up to one target creature that player contrlls,
its owner gains life equal to its power.
While the Primordials are all really nice in a
multiplayer setting, they still can have a
decent effect in normal games. But all the
Primordials have the same drawback, the casting
cost. Seven mana can be a harsh amount to exile
a single creature in a normal game. But, if it
gains you significant creature advantage, then
it is worth it. But, Luminate Primordial has
anothet drawback, your opponent then gains life
equal to the exiled creatures power. So, if what
you exiled was big, they gain a large amount of
life.
I really am on the fencd when it comes to the
Primordials. They are great in multiplayer, but
I feel in single player, they lose they're
effect.
In limited it sees play, but it's not that
amazing. Any removal is good, but at 7
it's pretty expensive for a 4/7 Swords to
Plowshares. Won't define a color, but
won't get cut if you're in white. This is
a FANTASTIC multiplayer and casual card, though.
There are a ton of combos and things you can do
once it's in play to blink it and make it come
back and do it again. I don't see it
seeing serious constructed play, though - it's
slow and probably just not good enough, unless
possibly the block environment is slow enough to
support it.
