This is an incredibly hard creature to stop once
it starts. Can't be targeted, difficult to
block, hits hard enough to make the enemy sweat.
So far, most people seem to be sticking to their
Invisible Stalkers, but I have no doubt once
Innistrad rotates, this is what will be suiting
up with Unflinching Courage and steamrolling
people.
So why hasn't it already caught on? It's bigger
than the Stalker and it hits harder... but it
costs four mana, it's in two colors instead of
one (not that anyone cares with all the
shocklands these days) and it CAN be blocked,
albeit with difficulty. Still, if you've been on
the receiving end of a suited-up Stalker, you'll
be glad that it's getting replaced by something
a little slower.
I find it hilarious that one of the Azorius
guild's visual cues is ribbons made of magic
covered in runes. It reminds me of those
political cartoons where they would draw bills
and the like coming out of people's mouths.
Whether or not Ascended Lawmage is good at
filibustering, it's an excellent creature to
carry auras around, and I can't believe how
often I've been saying that recently. While it
feels weird that the designers avoided pushing
auras for so many years and now are doing it so
aggressively, I suggest you take advantage of
it. Those who have trouble justifying the price
tags on Geist of Saint Traft or Bruna should
play this card instead: you'll find it does many
of the same things.
Welcome back readers this review will be short
and sweet. In standard and all other competitive
formats this card does not have the goods.
Hexproof is a powerful ability and coupled with
evasion it’s a solid card but not powerful
enough to see play in top decks. In casual and
multiplayer this card is a nice evasive creature
that can dodge removal and hold equipment
nicely. In limited it’s a nice evasive clock
that opponents cannot interact easily with
outside of combat making it a powerful pick.
Overall a solid card for casual and limited but
lacks that extra oomph to put it on the radar.
Today's card of the day is Ascended Lawmage
which is a four mana White and Blue 3/2 with
Flying and Hexproof. The reasonable mana cost
for a decent power attached to evasion and
Hexproof makes this an excellent addition to an
aura deck, though the relatively low toughness
is a drawback otherwise. Overall this is a
strong card that should become more popular as
Standard shifts to being more focused on the
Return to Ravnica block.
In Limited this is a bomb threat that can be
a first pick in Booster and greatly benefits
from aggressively supporting it with auras or
other enhancements. Evasion with Hexproof to
nullify most removal options puts it into the
upper tier of creatures and an opponent requires
both a method to block and a combat trick to
reliably deal with it. Every Sealed with one of
the colors should consider splashing the other
and it is an obvious choice to run in Azorius
decks.
