Mythos of Vadrok – Ikoria MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

I’m honestly a little weirded out by all of the Mythoses’ art. I feel like I should be looking at them with minorly ominous music in the background, while Giorgio Tsoukalos explains the bizarre implications of their details. But I think that’s a great place to be – in an age when we can look stuff up on the internet at a moment’s notice (and some of it is even correct), we all need a little more mystery in our lives.

Five damage for four mana is not too bad – that scales pretty logically from a mono-red Slaying Fire and takes down all sorts of nasty opposition (hi, Teferi). It’s actually pretty playable just for that, especially in limited. Sometimes you’ll catch somebody with multiple vulnerable creatures and just run away with the game, or even hit a big mutated creature where they forgot to enhance its toughness. In constructed, many decks will be looking to take advantage of its extra mode and the additional colors. It’s a very brutal tempo tool and can leave an opponent helpless for a devastating attack. And post War of the Spark, it’s going to be pretty relevant that it turns off planeswalkers for a while.

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 3/5

Mythos of Vadrok reminds me a bit of Fiery Justice in being a damage spell you can split among any number of targets. Five damage for four mana is a reasonable rate of return in all, as being able to burninate a stronger enemy is good (as is splitting damage to take out a board).

Where things get interesting is if you can play blue and white mana into the spell. The resulting spell has a far fiddlier mana demand, but a more brutal effect in freezing a permanent for an entire turn cycle. This does hit planeswalkers, and buying a turn against them can be all the difference. If you’re paying the “alternate” cost, you’ll almost certainly want to go wide in order to wreak as much havoc as possible.

I like Mythos of Vadrok; it’s a flexible spell with solid modes overall and the ability to help break a stall if needed. Burn spells being able to torch planeswalkers is nice in this day and age, and it has utility in both mono-red decks and the Jeskai-supporting builds.

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.75
Limited: 4.25 (removal is king in Limited)
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander: 3.75 (limited to Jeskai+ decks because of color identity rules, but the effect is a nice one that can help decks that readily can generate four specific mana)

Phat
Pack
Magic
YouTube

Hello everyone and welcome back to Pojo’s Card of the Day! Today we’re looking at one of the Mythos Cycle and an absolute stellar piece of artwork by Seb McKinnon who’s art style is perfect for these cave-style paintings. So art gushing aside let’s dig into the Mythos of Varok!

So a sorcery speed burn spell isn’t always that exciting but Mythos is pretty interesting, being able to divide the damage means that you can take out one big threat… or one medium threat and a small threat, but this card has amazing potential for a big blowout X for 1 style play. On top of that if you’re in Jeskai then you can alternatively play it as a sort of time walk, allowing yourself an alpha strike without getting blasted back on the next turn. It can also effectively deal with planeswalkers, especially weakened ones that are relying on a creature for defense.

So where does this fit in? Well, possibly in Standard, while Jeskai Fires is extremely popular right now this might be a decent spell to fire off and keep your opponents creatures at bay, or just unload a ton of damage on an opposing T3feri. It might be more of a meta-call with Shatter the Sky if your LGS is more tuned towards control mirrors and you want to at least have something to deal with the stray aggro deck that runs across.

I doubt it’s going to see much play in Commander, 5 damage for 4 mana simply isn’t enough of a ratio given that a lot of other spells can scale much higher for that global board wipe goodstuff and if you’re in Jeskai you have better ways of dealing with planeswalkers.

Cube is also going to take a pass on this one because the three color benefit doesn’t really matter if you’re in Jeskai where you’re probably playing a more control game anyways and Mono Red and Izzet would rather have Fiery Confluence over this.

This card will shine in Ikoria Draft and Ikoria Sealed, which many players are still eagerly waiting for the paper release. This is definitely a bomb removal spell, a potential sweeper, big guy killer, and planeswalker removal all in one. Definitely first pickable material right here!

Ratings

Constructed 2/5 – I don’t see it doing much here as Control has access to better removal options.

Commander 1/5 – Not worth the deck slot when you have stuff like Rolling Earthquake.

Cube 1/5 – It tries to do a lot but ultimately misses the mark.

Limited 5/5 – Getting a 2 for 1 is great, but the option to get 3.. 4.. maybe even 5 for 1? Gold Tier Removal.

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