Omnath, Locus of the Roil – Core Set 2020 MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Omnath is the embodiment of Zendikar’s violent elements, so it makes sense that he has an affinity for other Elementals and wants to support them. It can sometimes be hard, in a three-color deck, to get enough creatures into play to one-shot someone, just because you often need things in the right order, but a properly constructed deck can pull it off more often than you think. And once again, there’s always Chandra, Acolyte of Flame in Standard, plus Incandescent Soulstoke in casual.

Omnath wouldn’t be Omnath without some kind of landfall ability, and while this isn’t as spectacular as some in that class, it grows and diversifies your threats and reminds us how good landfall is at giving you something to do in the late game (with otherwise weak draws, no less). Of course, there are some Commander decks where eight lands in play is basically the default.

It’s pretty interesting that you can control all three versions of Omnath at the same time, if you want to. I suppose since he’s the embodiment of Zendikar’s Roil – broadly, the weather, and the weather is everywhere, Omnath kind of is too.

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

Omnath is back for a third pass, and this one is still rather annoyed. It’s another interesting payoff for the Elemental deck: if you have enough Elementals on board before this resolves, you more or less end the game on the spot with a big shot to the face. Even if it’s the only Elemental, it’s still a potential growing threat that dings something.

Speaking of growing, Omnath can grow your Elementals, itself included, with its pseudo-landfall ability. A +1/+1 counter on a creature is nice…and drawing a card is also lovely. Omnath lacks protection, which is unfortunate, but it’s definitely a good bit of inevitability for a deck that can support it. And even without other Elementals, it presents a ticking time bomb as it ticks up. It’s nasty in Limited, and if Elementals are a deck that work in Standard, this can be the piece that makes it fire. It feels a bit underwhelming on paper, but it delivers in practice (and also synergizes with Omnath 2.0 from Battle for Zendikar).

Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.25
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander: 4