First strike and lifelink don't exactly play off
each other, but they're both good abilities and
they both benefit greatly from any effect that
can increase a creature's power. White, luckily,
has many of those. Funnily enough, so do black
and red, and the Fiendslayer's anti-targeting
ability only applies to black and red spells
your opponents control. Most of the black and
red spells an opponent is likely to target your
creature with are kill spells, so Fiendslayer
here is both solid in combat and hard to deal
with out of combat. Sadly, it doesn't have real
protection from red and black, so those
creatures can still block it... and red
creatures especially are likely to also have
first strike.
It's been a while since we had a Paladin en-Vec
variant in Standard, and I'm really not sure
why. A lot of people are going to be wondering
why this card doesn't have protection, and while
it makes the Fiendslayer slightly less optimal
for white decks, it is probably better design
overall in a lot of ways. Other than that,
though, it's basically Paladin en-Vec. If you
don't remember that guy, spoiler alert: he was a
very good card.
Today's card of the day is Fiendslayer Paladin
which is a three mana White 2/2 with First
Strike, Lifelink, and can't be targeted by Red
or Black spells your opponents control.
This is a solid creature for White that works
well against many common removal tools and still
functions adequately even against non-Red or
Black decks. The human type is supported
in Standard and older formats and it is likely
this will see play in competitive decks, even if
just in the sidedeck.
In Limited the double White is a drawback for
multicolor builds, though the chances of running
into Red, Black, or both is high the threat of
removal is somewhat reduced in the format.
The value as a first pick is debatable depending
on the pack and it can probably be passed safely
aside from the unlikely situation of running a
heavy removal Black or Red deck. In Sealed
this is strong for a predominantly or half White
deck, but isn't really splashable or a driving
force to play the color if others offer more
aggressive options.
1WW is very efficient for a 2/2 with first
strike and life link, which is all the Paladin
will be unless you're playing against red or
black.
Of the set of M14 rares that target their
opposites on the color pie, Fiendslayer Paladin
is the most effective. First strike gives FP the
upper hand in combat, so the easiest way to
remove the card from the field would be with
burn or kill spells, but since FP is protected
from Red and Black spells your opponent
controls, there is no easy way to get it off the
field.
