In a monoblue deck, this might as well be an
unblockable 6/6. Sure, it doesn't have hexproof
like most of blue's other biggest, baddest
beasts, but it hardly needs it. It only has to
live long enough to swing once to make its
point, and don't forget-- it's in blue. The
color of -X/-0 effects. If your opponent has
something big enough to block the Kraken, just
tell him that no, no he doesn't.
Still, for seven mana, there's better options.
Hold out for one more mana and you get
Tromokratis. One fewer already got you Arbiter
of the Ideal. And anyway, don't blue control
decks usually win with something a little less
Timmy?
There's an argument that rotating formats
like Standard are necessary to "keep things
fresh" and let different things have their day
in the sun. There's an argument, but I don't
like it because it almost basically excuses
designers from mistakes like thinking you have
to tape a bunch of comes-into-play abilities
onto a big creature to make it "good" instead of
coming up with things like Kraken of the
Straits. You want creatures and attacking to be
relevant? Then make abilities that encourage
creatures to attack. Against some opponents,
controlling as few as three islands will make
Kraken of the Straits unblockable and leave your
opponent wishing they played their own six-cost
creatures. Besides, y'know - Quest for Ula's
Temple!
Today's card of the day is Kraken of the
Straits which is a seven mana Blue 6/6 that
can't be blocked by creatures with power less
than the total number of Islands you control.
A 6/6 conditional evasive that is best for
mono-Blue is potentially a serious threat, but
only in a very specific design and at a fairly
high mana cost. A very control heavy deck
looking for a finisher can do better with an
early game unblockable choice instead of waiting
for this, which can often be blocked if combat
tricks are involved. Overall this just
doesn't fit in well as a finisher for mono-Blue
as it only attacks while other similar cost
creatures have effects to more drastically
impact the game.
In Limited this is a serious bomb for Booster
that can dominate in a mono-Blue deck and be
very difficult to block or remove. In
Sealed or Booster a two color deck can still use
it, though leaning towards Blue is encouraged to
reduce blocking options. The mana cost is
less of a concern and the double Blue is
manageable out of seven if it is just played as
a 6/6 and mostly ignoring the effect. Even
with the minimum two islands it prevents 1/1
chump blocking and is worth it for that alone to
apply pressure on just about any opponent's
battlefield position.
