It's pretty much always true: Wrath + Threat =
Win. Any card that wipes the board of all
creatures but leaves you one, even a mediocre
one, is probably going to win you the game. This
is why people tried to build serious decks
around Day of Judgment and Cudgel Troll. This is
seven mana across three colors, but it lets you
choose any creature, whether it normally
survives destroy effects or not. And one of
those three colors is well-known for having the
biggest, baddest creatures. And another one is
known for being able to get dead creatures back
from the graveyard! I can easily see this
becoming a cornerstone of a WBG midrange/control
deck, or just being a random trump in big
multiplayer melee matches.
Reading this card sends me on a flashback to
Shards of Alara. Not because there was anything
directly comparable; I don't think there was
anything quite as simple, confronting, and
brutal as this card's game text in that block.
It's actually more the question of "Why is this
card [third color]?" I never did figure out what
part of Rafiq of the Many or Rhox War Monk were
blue, or what Mayael the Anima's abilities had
to do with red.
The appeal of Duneblast's effect is obvious,
but its cost rules it out for many decks.
Traditionally, control decks were already
stabilized by the time they reached the sort of
turn range this naturally comes online. Of
course, not all Magic traditions are valuable,
and some are not even sensible; and a deck that
can accelerate into a Duneblast, or even draw it
in a late-game stall, is something to be feared.
Today's card of the day is Duneblast which is a
seven mana Black, White, and Green sorcery that
destroys all creatures aside from one of your
choice. This is a very powerful effect
with an equally powerful mana cost that will
keep this from seeing any play outside of
Commander with some offbeat Multiplayer and
Casual use possible. In Commander this is an
excellent card in a deck using the colors and
noticeably supports Karador and Anafenza with
some synergy for Teneb and Ghave as well.
In Limited this requires some splashing, but it
can easily win games with even a moderate threat
in play under your control. Even with the
three colors it is a solid first pick in Booster
and far too dangerous to pass in most
situations. For Sealed two of the colors
should be solid before splashing the third, so
the opportunity to include it may not always be
present. If possible this is worth
stretching the deck a little to make it work as
recovering from a solid usage can be extremely
difficult for any opponent.
Board sweepers are always among the most
powerful cards in Magic. Ones that take out all
opposing creatures while leaving you with
something are even more powerful. The problem is
that you have to pay out the wazoo for cards
like this, and Duneblast is no exception. If
you're in a deck that can produce this type and
quantity of mana, you can often nearly end the
game with this card.
There is one additional upside to this card,
however. The Abzan clan is very fond of using
cards in graveyards to it's own benefit. So,
even if you don't have the perfect scenario of a
big fatty to leave on the board after this goes
off, you should have some other nice
interactions with all the things that went to
the graveyard.
But it still comes down to 7 mana. If you can't
reliably get enough mana, this card might as
well be blank in your hand.
