These are, of course, Chandra's parents - not
that most of her recent cards have used her last
name, but the important thing is that this may
be the first time we've had an entire family
represented in Magic cards. Times like this make
me miss the novels. Now I'll always be wondering
what would happen if and when Chandra ever made
her way back to Ghirapur. Would we see a
difference in outlook between Chandra and Pia
and Kiran, who are clearly very different types
of magic users? Would she tell them where she
had been, and would they believe her if she
did?
Despite the fact that red has always been good
at destroying artifacts, there's something that
feels right about Origins' Thopter theme. In
fact, cards like Pia and Kiran would have
probably felt pretty right in Mirrodin, too, but
I guess they hadn't thought of the idea yet.
There's nothing that prevents you from using
them with cards from that era, of course, and
that may end up being where they have the most
impact. Not that Origins' Thopter archetype
won't be fun - and it may provoke lots of fun
thoughts and fan stories about Ghirapur.
Today's card of the day is Pia and Kiran Nalaar
a four mana Red 2/2 Legendary that also puts two
1/1 Flying tokens into play and for three mana
can sacrifice an artifact to deal two damage.
Strictly as a creature this is efficient as
three creatures for four mana, two of which with
evasion. The effect is mediocre as it
costs mana and a card or token, but can help in
several situations. It could work with
Ghirapur Gearcrafter and Thopter Engineer as a
sort of theme, but overall this is unlikely to
make much of an impression on any Constructed
format.
In Limited the double Red hurts a bit, but three
creatures on one card is very strong in the
format and the two evasive tokens are at least a
minor threat. A solid first pick in
Booster that should be followed up with other
artifacts or token production if possible as
even though the effect is somewhat inefficient
it is still valuable as removal. In Sealed
it can be very strong with the right pool, but
is not nearly enough by itself to force Red as
half of the deck.
Sort of the centerpiece to the U/R Thopter
archetype. 2 1/1 fliers puff out the power to
cost ratio to an acceptable 4 for 4, but the
effect should really have compensated better for
the cost of admission. 2R and a sacrifice to
shock is pretty awful, and speaks volumes about
the archetype as a whole. Leave it at home in the
cardboard tomb from whence it came.
