Theros block has a lot of 2/3's. Like, enough
that any Limited player is going to start
wondering if 2/3 is a reference to some Greek
myth, or if WotC wanted to make sure that Theros
limited had a lot of creatures swinging and
bouncing off each other. Maybe they wanted to
tempt people into actually blocking with
creatures, so all the combat tricks that make
Heroic work would pay off? Maybe. But if you're running a Heroic deck,
chances are you don't really want to aim your
spells at Tethmos High Priest. In combat, he's a
waste of pump spells. As a card advantage
engine, he's a washout too-- you're spending a
card to get a card back. I like that he can
retrieve some solid Heroes like Akroan Skyguard,
Battlewise Hoplite, Hero of Iroas, and Phalanx
Leader, as well as some of the smaller Bestow
creatures that can trigger Heroic, but he's
still kind of disappointing compared to all the
other juicy targets you've got for your spells.
If you're running plenty of multi-target spells
like Triton Tactics, or if Shimmering Wings gets
reprinted in M15 (not likely) then it'll be a
good investment, but if you're worried about
running out of little creatures to aim your
tricks at, you're probably running too many
tricks and not enough creatures anyway.
Don't you love the way people make up
supposedly original fantasy names for their
worlds? The majority of them tend to end up
sounding explicitly like Greek ("Paksenarrion"),
explicitly like modern English ("Rosette"), or
like random strings of letters (everything by R.
Scott Bakker, none of which I intend to even try
and recall here). At least Theros actually is a
Greek block, so I don't have a problem with this
card's name.
For that matter, I don't really have a
problem with this card's game text either.
Doesn't it remind you a little of Reveillark? I
still have nightmares about that deck. This
requires extra cards and is somewhat more
fragile, so it's not likely to be as big a
monster. You don't get a bunch of dangerous
creatures back when the High Priest dies, which
was one of the things that made Reveillark
almost unstoppable, but this type of effect has
always been one of the most dangerous in all of
Magic, and so this card must be respected.
Today's card of the day is Tethmos High Priest
which is a three mana White 2/3 with Heroic that
puts a two mana or less creature from your
graveyard into play. This is an excellent card
to use alongside a low cost aggressive deck that
are popular for mono-White or even multicolor
decks like Boros or Orzhov. The 2/3 body is
sturdy enough to survive basic blocking,
attacking, or burn situations and it turns
combat tricks or auras into a two for one play
if cards are in the graveyard. A deck using this
benefits from early and aggressive attrition of
your own units to make the most use of the
effect. Overall this is a card that will see
play in all current formats and will likely be
part of at least some competitive builds.
In Limited the card advantage this offers in
a block built to support Heroic is only held
back by the availability of one or two mana
creatures to target. That drawback weakens the
card considerably, but a
2/3 for three with only one mana of a specific
color in the cost is very playable in the
format. A reasonable second or third pick in
Booster, which should add even higher priority
on low cost creatures, and an automatic
inclusion for White in Sealed even with little
or no potential targets for the effect.
Some cards are great in a vacuum. They don't
need anything else to be good. This is not one
of those. The payoff is that when you do have
the correct pieces with it, the effect can be
very powerful. The first thing you need to make
the High Priest good is an instant or sorcery to
target it. There are a lot of good spells that
target, so this shouldn't be a problem. Second,
you need something in the graveyard to bring
back after you target it. There are plenty of
good 2 mana or less creatures to target, so this
shouldn't be a problem, either. But can you
reliably do both at the same time? That's the
challenge in building your deck.
There is a lot of potential in this card for
combos, or for gaining a lot of advantage.
Remember, though, that you have to spend a card
(the instant or sorcery) to get a card from the
graveyard, so you're not really gaining - only
trading. It's up to you to make sure you're
making a good trade. I'm yet to find a
constructed combo with this that would make it
good enough to play, so I'm not sure if that's
where it fits. Where this is going to be popular
is in casual games, where crazy combos rule.
Someone's going to find some really fun
interaction and build a fun deck around the High
Priest.
In limited, you mainly play this guy for his
reasonable body, and if you can get something
back once or twice, all the better. Certainly a
good card to include in your deck, though not
likely to be the build-around card it might be
in a casual or constructed deck.
Magic sure does like its cat people. And white
decks sure will love Tethmos High Priest.
It's a pretty interesting contrast to
yesterday's card, isn't it? Dictate of Erebos
was all about creating more death. Tethmos High
Priest is all about creating more life. A 2/3
for 3 mana is a sturdy, if non-aggressive, body.
The heroic trigger however belongs best in one
very specialized deck type.
White weenie.
For those who may not know, white weenie is a
deck archetype where you have a lot of low-cost
white creatures that you try to bring out
en-masse, in order to overwhelm the opponent
before they can even get their feet off the
ground. Your opponent's 4/4 or 5/5 may look
impressive on turn 4, but if you've got three
2/2's and a kill spell, guess who's dealing more
damage per turn? The idea is to put your
opponent on a clock, take him down before he can
get to his best stuff. If you have five 2/2's
and your opponent has two 8/8's, but only 6 life
left, you've won the game regardless of who he
blocks.
So that's white weenie, and this card find a
nice home in there. That's because our cat
cleric friend needs you to actually be running a
bunch of creatures with converted mana cost of 2
or less for there to be any benefit, and for
some of those creatures to have died. So you
want to stack the odds in your favour to get the
most value out of it. But wait, I think we can
make it even better still!
If you read yesterday's review, you might
know what's coming. What type of creatures are
best to run in a white weenie deck that has
Tethmos High Priest in it? If you said ones with
"enters the battlefield" abilities, you're
right! It's all about value, folks. Getting the
maximum amount of value out of all your cards,
using them to the very best of their abilities,
playing one card's strengths off another card's
strengths. And Tethmos High Priest enables you
to do that in a very real way for certain white
decks.
Most cards that return things from the
graveyard send them back to your hand, but our
High Priest seems to be very good at their job
to bring them right back into the battlefield.
What are some good creatures to run alongside
this? Well there are honestly many, but I'll
throw out a few suggestions for you. There's
Azorius Arrester, Inquisitor Exarch, Kazandu
Blademaster, Kinsbaile Skirmisher, Knight of the
White Orchid, Kor Outfitter, Leonin
Relic-Warder, Meddling Mage, Snapcaster Mage,
Tidehollow Sculler, Wall of Omens, and/or War
Priest of Thune. Those are just some
suggestions, check them out and see which one's
you like. Some work better than others. This is
essentially how you would have to play this
card, though. In any other deck it just wouldn't
do enough. You'd need a deck specialized in
low-cost creatures and low-cost heroic triggers
to make the most of the High Priest. But it
could work.
So how good is this card? Alone, not very.
But as part of an army? Well, every army needs a
medic. Someone to take the wounded and return
them to the front lines. So if you feel like
running a deck that's basically an army, give
this one a try. I don't think you'll be
disappointed.
