Welcome all to the Daily Dose of War of the Spark where today I’m going to be looking at some more Planeswalkers, specifically some from the wonderful guild colors for Izzet, red and blue. Three planeswalkers will be making their appearance today including the reappearance of one of the most beloved Planeswalkers of all time. Along with another returning planeswalker, I’ll be talking about a new Planeswalker who makes their first appearance on Ravnica. I love to be able to add some new potential Planeswalkers to my Grixis decks, so here we go!
First off, is the return of the great Chandra. Here is Chandra, Fire Artisan.
I’m glad to see the return of Chandra and I believe she has one of the best static abilities of any of the planeswalkers we’ve seen in the set. Let’s talk about the abilities of the card.
Whenever one or more loyalty counters are removed from Chandra, Fire Artisan, she deals that much damage to target opponent or planeswalker. – When I first read this, I was like, wow, you activate her ultimate ability and deal 7 damage to your opponent. This is true, but also if your opponent just attacks or damages Chandra, Fire Artisan, it will also deal damage to your opponent. Usually planeswalkers act as a shield by helping you gain life by having damage that would normally be done to you, focused on a planeswalker instead. With this ability it amps it up just a little bit more and deals some damage to your opponent at the same time.
[+1]: Exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn. – This is the ability that will force your opponent to try and remove Chandra, Fire Artisan from the battlefield and take damage while doing so. If they don’t, you can punish them by working your way towards its ultimate ability while gaining card advantage each turn. It’s great that you can play lands from this ability as well as spells.
[-7]: Exile the top seven cards of your library. You may play them this turn. – This super version of the previous ability, will deal 7 damage to your opponent due to its static ability. Being able to have 7 cards to choose from in one turn will probably mean that its game over for your opponent.
The next planeswalker, I’m very excited to talk about, as it seems to have a lot of potential in my eyes. Here is Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor.
It’s great to see a new Planeswalker added to the mix! Let’s talk about the abilities of the card.
Spells your opponents cast that target a creature or planeswalker you control cost 2 more to cast. – This ability is great at protecting itself and your other creatures and planeswalkers from removal. This would be a great planeswalker to bring in out of the sideboard against removal heavy control decks like Esper Control or even Mono Red.
[-2]: Create a 2/2 blue Wizard creature token. Draw a card, then discard a card. – This is basically two abilities in one! You get a 2/2 Wizard creature, which is solid if you are playing cards like Wizard’s Lightning or Wizard’s Retort in your deck. On top of that you also get some card advantage and looting with this ability.
Finally, is the return of the mighty Ral Zarek. Here is Ral, Storm Conduit.
Ral is back and I couldn’t be more excited, let’s talk about the abilities of the card.
Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, Ral, Storm Conduit deals 1 damage to target opponent or planeswalker. – This static ability can turn any deck into a sweet damage machine! This similar effect to Electrostatic Field allows you to get a ton of incremental damage with each instant or sorcery you cast.
[+2]: Scry 1. – Although there is no card advantage gained, you do get greater card selection from this ability. Being a +2 loyalty ability means it will make it just a little bit harder to get rid of Ral, Storm Conduit quickly.
[-2]: When you cast your next instant or sorcery spell this turn, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy. – I like how this triggers the static ability of Ral, Storm Conduit as well. This ability is very powerful as you can set up your turns to make sure you are getting the maximum value out of this ability. Whether it is card damage with Expansion // Explosion or card draw with Expansion // Explosion, you will gain extra value. Did you see what I did there? This is a great ability and I can’t wait to see it in action.
Izzet the best trio of Planeswalkers ever? Probably not, but they do seem like 3 fun cards I want to open during my prerelease. Thanks again for joining the Daily Dose of War of the Spark. Join me again tomorrow as I continue my second week of analysis on one of the most anticipated sets in recent years.
