I'd like to just take a moment to say that I
happen to like the modern fantasy idea of
elementals far beyond the traditional earth,
fire, air, and water. It may not be exactly
accurate, but it makes for some pretty cool
creatures. Take this guy, for example. While a
3/5 for five mana is not likely to win any
prizes for efficiency, an automatic Blinding
Light effect with no extra cost is likely to be
very annoying to opponents and can become deadly
over the course of a couple of turns, and he's
essentially unkillable by traditional methods.
People don't play Pacifism-style cards anywhere
near as much as they should, and there's
probably even a combo involving using him to pay
for delve costs over and over again.
Today's card of the day is Torrent Elemental
which is a five mana Blue
3/5 with Flying, when it attacks you tap all
creatures the defending player controls, and at
sorcery speed for three plus two Black or Green
mana it can be put into play tapped from exile.
This is a very serious offensive threat with
even a few other creatures available as it shuts
down any defense then can do considerable
damage. This will absolutely see play in
Blue decks as a finisher, likely alongside other
evasive threats to set up a final alpha strike.
Haste would be a huge benefit if running Izzet
and while the last effect works with Black or
Green it is very situational.
In Limited this is an easy first pick in Booster
that should outright win games with even one
other attack creature of moderate strength.
It ends stalemates, is a strong topdeck with the
offensive field control plus high toughness, and
with just one Blue in the casting cost works
very well in any deck using Blue. Sealed
builds should try to splash this in or run Blue
if the pool is strong enough as this holds just
that much potential in any game.
I was fortunate enough to get this guy on the
pre-release, and he was a complete beast. He
makes himself and all your creatures almost
unblockable, and can come back from exile. This
means that Banishing Light or Chained to the
Rocks are much less valuable since you can
re-cast the elemental again. Even better, put
him in your graveyard somehow, then delve him
away and cast him again. Your opponents will get
very tired of seeing him come back again and
again. Three power is a bit low for the cost,
but if you have other creatures, they can team
up and knock out an opponent pretty quickly.
