I'm a little disappointed that the R/G god
doesn't have the most impressive physical stats.
Even Nylea's 6/6 for 3G is only just barely the
biggest of all Theros's gods. I suppose Xenagos
makes up for that by pumping up other creatures.
Still, Xenagos is all but useless without some
other creatures around to pump up-- a fitting
weakness for the God of Partying. And it's not
like red and green are at any shortage of
creatures to use the ability on-- a solid Gruul
deck would love such an ability. Amusingly,
Rubblebelt Raiders will make Xenagos a creature
all by itself-- if you control both, your
devotion to red is four, and to green is four,
and the Raiders definitely wants to be the
target of an ability like Xenagos's. A new aggro
deck in the making? Or just a suggestion for the
inevitable Xenagos Commander deck?
I'd just like to say up front that I really
don't like that even with all the "reforms" of
recent years, they still haven't figured out a
way to forbid someone from controlling both a
legendary creature and the planeswalker version.
I suggest that we start referring to Xenagos and
Venser as "Schrodinger planeswalkers", because
their sparks are simultaneously ignited and
dormant. On the flip side, it is rather
interesting that Xenagos' non-planeswalker form
is, from the point of view of lore, more
powerful than his planeswalker form.
In gameplay, the God of Revels is not too bad
either. Five mana is well and truly a midgame
card, but when you can get a huge Berserk effect
the same turn you cast him, it will sometimes
turn out to be the last turn. Every turn after
that is just gravy, really. The only question I
have is that when Xenagos is set up to make
creatures ridiculous, and when you're playing
lots of other creatures for him to make
ridiculous, how often will his ability to become
a creature himself be relevant?
Today's card of the day is Xenagos, God of
Revels which is a five mana Red and Green
Legendary enchantment with Indestructible that
becomes a
6/5 creature if your devotion to Red and Green
is seven or higher. At the beginning of
combat on your turn another target creature you
control gains Haste and +X/+X where X is equal
to their power. The last effect combines
well with power boosting before the combat step,
particularly if that creature has Trample or
other offensive advantages like Firebreathing or
Double Strike. The seven devotion is a
drawback that can be worked around somewhat in
the design stages and even without the
6/5 body the +X/+X every turn can be used as a
game ending strategy.
Overall the mana cost puts this at the top end
of a non-acceleration build's curve, but the
potential of the effect is enough to make it a
standout across formats including competitively.
In Limited the multicolor aspect is the main
drawback, locking you in to at least splashing
one or the other into your stronger pool, but
the god cards are too powerful to sideboard in
most cases and this is an easy first pick in
Booster. In Sealed this should be worked
into a deck whenever possible, barring both the
Red and Green pools being truly unplayable.
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