CardName – Phyrexia: All Will Be One
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2023
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.00
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 4.50
Multiplayer: 4.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.38
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
If you hadn’t seen any of the social media arguments about whether or not white has been bad of late, cards like Mondrak will be hitting you out of the blue right now. If you had seen those arguments, cards like Mondrak will be hitting you only slightly less hard right now. Despite being less optimal outside of token decks, he is one of the strongest white cards in recent sets. Doubling tokens is hardly a novel concept, but it’s unusual to get that in a form that can attack and block, meaning you can play him in a token-light limited deck and get an occasional benefit. Of course, his activated ability helps a lot – not only does it synergize with his static ability, you can use it to bluff and threaten opponents, and force opponents to target small creatures so you won’t be able to use them to save your 4/4 who is still beating them down in the meantime. He also provides a repeatable sacrifice effect in white, which is somewhat unusual; I feel like there might be a good use for that somewhere.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
I’ll try and get back to this in my gameplay-free review, but they really pushed the “twisted religion” aesthetic in All Will Be One. Mondrak seems to be inspired by the Biblical ophanim, and by some of the popular culture creatures derived from the ophanim (like Final Fantasy XIII‘s Orphan, or Bayonetta‘s Resplendence). It’s very effective.
The Dominus cycle all offers powerful abilities on bodies that can become indestructible, and considering that Mondrak, Glory Dominus doubles token generation, he can help an army spiral out of control, regardless of the supporting colors. Four mana for a killable 4/4 isn’t great…but if you resolve Mondrak with the right board, like with a bit of treasure or a couple of Mites, you may be able to make him an indestructible 4/4, and that would do well to thwart most attempts to remove him. The protection is also able to be triggered at instant speed, so you can wait until you need it to burn your resources…though you may need to be mindful of instant-speed responses to that. All the same, while his ability is a potent build-around tool, he’s still a serviceable enough body besides, which makes him a step above my favorite archetype, the do-nothing enchantment. I think there are enough things (like Skrelv’s Hive) in this Standard to make Mondrak a fun time for you, a combo extender that can fight back on its own.
Constructed: 4 (maybe optimistic, but he fights back and also extends your board very quickly)
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5 (mostly useful for the indestructible body, which is quite the upside)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
We would love more volunteers to help us with our Magic the Gathering Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. We would be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc. 😉
