Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim – The Brother’s War
Date Reviewed: December 12, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.00
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 5.00
Multiplayer: 3.13
Commander [EDH]: 4.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
If Teferi didn’t have that trigger whenever you draw cards and his “draw a card” ability was +1, he’d be aggressively mediocre. The little things matter – although they don’t always seem so little when it’s so easy to put two or three loyalty counters on him each turn. Technically, you could just sit there in a prison-type deck until you can set off his ultimate, which is “I win” on the scale of Jace, the Mind Sculptor; but that’s way less intriguing and appealing than the alternative. If you’ve been playing for a long time, you’ll be used to expensive blue win conditions that come slowly, when the game might have been over in practice long before. It’ll take some getting used to an era when they can destroy you out of nowhere.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 4 (as if Azami or Wheel of Fortune Tribal needed any more help)
If this were one of those clickbait-like YouTube videos, the title would be something like “five mana planeswalker that can ult immediately omg what are they thinking”. This is technically not untrue, but let’s get into the newest Teferi, whose passive is going to be what makes the card tick.
Indeed, Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim has a passive in place of a conventional plus ability: he gains loyalty whenever you draw a card, and Teferi’s 0 ability lets you do just that. A hard-to-remove extra card each turn is pretty effective, and if you just spam his first ability, he’ll be eventually in position to pop his ultimate, a vicious board-clearing effect that should put the game out of reach. But Teferi is blue, and blue draws cards, and it’s possible with the right support to be able to get this off either the turn after he drops or the turn he drops. His -2 is an effective detour that can help protect himself in addition to all of the card draw you may have (and can end the game on its own), which makes this Teferi a planeswalker who needs to be removed fairly quickly.
As I oft say, five mana is a bit of a dead zone for planeswalkers, but this Teferi may well be one of the strongest. He protects himself, draws you cards, and clears the board, all while ticking up aggressively. This might be one of the sleeper cards of The Brothers’ War, all in all.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 3.25 (he can only ult one player)
Commander [EDH]: 4 (the set-ups to make him ult immediately are doable here, with cards like Azami leading the way, but you may need to aim carefully)
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