I admit, I'm a little curious about what exactly
makes these new dragons "elders", and what the
long-term implications of that are. The elders
from Legends fought each other for control of
Dominaria at the dawn of time, and one of their
number became the greatest planeswalker of all (Nicol
Bolas). The first part of that is paralleled by
the Dragonlords' dominion over clans, so I
wonder if we'll see any of them again in
ascended form.
Not that Ojutai needs much help to be selected
for decks. Any opponent who depends on removal
or damage spells to clear blockers has no hope
of getting past him, and his damage-triggered
ability keeps you stocked with answers for any
late-game surprises your opponent might have -
more important for control decks now that
basically any opponent might have access to
five- or six-mana bombs. He's easily one of the
best control finishers of recent years, and even
has an advantage over Consecrated Sphinx in that
he doesn't have to be targetable unless it's
safe.
The number three card of the year is Dragonlord
Ojutai which is a five mana White and Blue 5/4
with Flying, Hexproof while untapped, and
whenever it deals combat damage to a player you
look at the top three cards of your library and
keep one then put the rest on the bottom of your
library.
This obviously benefits greatly from an effect
adding Vigilance or untapping effects, but it
works well defensively or as an evasive source
of card generation. Even though the
effects are opposed to each other it can be
worked around, with Brave the Sands likely the
best option, or Gleam of Authority with careful
timing of the tap effect. The overall
package fits well for a Blue/White control
theme, so this is highly likely to see play
across current formats and possibly reach
competitive levels.
In Limited this is a strong first pick in
Booster even with the two color aspect as it
offers many advantages for an efficient mana
cost.
In Sealed one color can be splashed and there is
little better than an elder dragon to build
around.
