David Fanany
Player since
1995 |
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Magic players love cards that do more than one
thing, modal spells and the like, and we
shouldn't be surprised that they love cards like
Sakura-Tribe Elder that do more than one thing
at the same time. Getting a defensive speed bump
and mana fixing and acceleration all at once is
worth much more than two mana, which seems to be
reflected in Wizards' more recent designs. It's
funny that I've almost never seen one stay on
the table for more than one consecutive turn,
but the Elder has been the cornerstone of more
decks than anyone can count over the last
decade.
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer; 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5 |
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James H. |
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Champions of Kamigawa, and the block the set belongs to, is infamous for
cards that are either painfully underpowered or
absurdly overpowered. Sakura-Tribe Elder is one
that actually is a fair, balanced card overall.
It provides a warm body early on that can block,
and it has the powerful ability to accelerate
mana. This is actually surprisingly relevant
even in more expansive formats, particularly
with the Prime-Time Valakut deck, Scapeshift
decks, or any deck that relies heavily on a lot
of colors.
Sakura-Tribe Elder is not
going to be an all-star, but it's a powerful
tool in the decks that run it. It gets
Prime-Time to five lands faster, it fixes mana,
and it even provides a blocker early against
aggressive builds. It's unlikely to return to
Standard anytime soon, due to being tied to
Kamigawa thematically (as one of the orochi,
Japanese-inspired snake people), but it can
continue to pull its weight wherever it's legal.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4.75
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander: 4.5
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