This is probably the most "win-more" card I've
ever seen. It's so "win-more" that it actively
hurts you if you're not already winning more.
You have to have a planeswalker on the field--
the single rarest type of card and the type that
your opponent already has the biggest incentive
to try and kill-- just to not take 2 a turn from
your own card. If you do, you get to double-dip
on each 'walker you have for 4 mana per turn. I
suppose it depends on the 'walkers you use to
determine whether it's worth it, but the card
itself seems to expect you to have MULTIPLE
planeswalkers on the board. How often does that
happen? M15 itself only has six planeswalkers,
one in each color and one multicolor one, and
that's more than most sets get.
Somewhere out there, somebody has more money
than he knows what to do with and he's built
himself a 5-color Commander deck with every
planeswalker he can think of. He'd probably love
this card, but anybody else?
I remember when the Chain Veil was first
introduced in the now-defunct webcomics - how
long ago was it? It wasn't entirely clear what
its specific function was then, other than the
fact that it was very powerful. Apparently it
was designed specifically for planeswalkers, and
there's a lot of value to be gotten from getting
to activate a planeswalker ability more than
once each turn. Since the characteristic of
planeswalkers is usually incremental advantage
over time, accelerating the accumulation of that
advantage is only a good thing. The Chain Veil
also helps you get to a high-cost, high-benefit
ultimate, such as Domri Rade's, in a shorter
time. It's not for every planeswalker-heavy deck
- it doesn't help you directly protect them or
deal with threats, except to the extent that it
gives you extra uses of the new Garruk's
anti-creature abilities, Ajani Vengeant's +1,
and the like - but when things fall into place,
the results can be spectacular.
Today's card of the day is The Chain Veil which
is a four mana Legendary artifact that has you
lose two life at your end step if you haven't
activated a loyalty ability that turn plus for
four mana you can use an extra loyalty ability
for each planeswalker you control. This is a
very unusual support card as it only ties in
with planeswalkers plus increases in value with
more planeswalkers in play. A theme deck with
two or more planeswalkers could benefit from
this as it dramatically increases their power
with double activations and earlier ultimate
abilities. Other than that narrow subset of
designs this generally isn't worth running with
just one planeswalker and is detrimental without
one in play, so it may just see play in
Commander or Casual.
For Limited this is an absolutely terrible
card to open in a pack as the odds of even
getting a planeswalker to use it with are low
let alone having both in play at the same time.
Easily passed in Booster unless rare drafting
and likely to be the first artifact in your
sidedeck in Sealed. Even if you have a
planeswalker this is still not a sure inclusion
as it can easily work against you or be a dead
card in hand.
I think this is the first card in Magic that
effects/is effected by Planeswalkers only.
Clearly, this is meant to be run in a deck that
plans on having multiple planeswalkers out at
once. If you've ever played against a deck that
has multiple planeswalkers at once, you know
this can be a scary situation. Now, imagine they
can activate each of them twice a turn. Not only
can they use two abilities each turn, if they
are + abilities, they are ramping towards their
backbreaking ultimate twice as fast.
What remains to be seen however, is if the
cost is worth it. To be able to do this requires
a significant investment. First, you have to
play a planeswalker or two - at least 3 mana,
and more likely 4+ mana each. Then you have to
cast this card - another 4 mana. Then, you have
to activate this ability - another 4 mana. This
is a lot of investment for the abilities you
get.
What is your opponent doing with turns 3-5
while you are using all your resources to put
out planeswalkers and get The Chain Veil going?
Most likely, they are spewing out creatures or
spells to attack your planeswalkers before they
get out of hand. On one hand, this protects your
life total since the attackers are going after
your walkers, but it also means you've gotta
have ways to protect these planeswalkers while
you build them up. If they manage to knock out
your planeswalkers, you start taking damage each
turn from the Veil, but that's really the least
of your worries if you're playing a deck built
around planeswalkers.
I'm glad this card was printed. I think it's
a fairly costed card. It's potential benefits
are through the roof, but you've got significant
hurdles to overcome to make it work. It's going
to be at its best in constructed and casual
formats. In limited, you are extremely lucky to
get one planeswalker - getting enough of them to
make this card worth playing is virtually
unheard of. In multiplayer, if you're running
multiple planeswalkers, you become public enemy
#1, and you're unlikely to survive everyone
teaming up on you.
