Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Dominaria, where today I’m ending week one of my analysis on the upcoming set by talking about something Legendary.
That’s right, more Legendary goodness is coming our way from Dominaria with some non-creature Legendary permanents. The Legendary subtheme in Dominaria is so large that it is breaking out of the normal boundary of creatures and planeswalkers.
Today I’m going to be talking about four non-creature Legendary permanents that are sure to have an impact in the coming months. Just recently in Ixalan we have seen Legendary Enchantments that transform into Legendary Lands, like Search for Azcanta. We have also seen some powerful Legendary Artifacts like Azor’s Gateway and The Immortal Sun. Now let’s see what Dominaria has in store for us.
Let’s start off with a sweet card that has five different lines of text. Here is Lich’s Mastery:
Wow, look at all the text on this bad boy. Let me go over each line one by one.
“Hexproof” – Always nice to have on a card, especially one that you just paid six mana for.
“You can’t lose the game.” – Awesome! Can the card end right there please? This is always a great line of text to see on a Magic card, but is there a catch?
“Whenever you gain life, draw that many cards.” – Yowsers! Does this card just keep getting better and better? If you have a consistent way to gain life, you can build up some sweet card advantage thanks to this ability. I think we’ve hit the peak of the mountain with this ability.
“Whenever you lose life, for each 1 life you lost, exile a permanent you control or card from your hand or graveyard.” – Uh oh. We seem to be heading down the side of the mountain now. Basically, your life total is equal to cards in hand + permanents on the battlefield + cards in your graveyard.
“When Lich’s Mastery leaves the battlefield, you lose the game.” – That was a hard fall to the bottom. Once you’ve exhausted all your resources, exiling Lich’s Mastery will be your last option and cause you to lose the game.
These five lines of text provide a lot of food for thought and get the mind brewing on how to break this card. One quick thought that comes to mind is with Approach of the Second Sun.
First you play Lich’s Mastery. The next turn you cast Approach of the Second Sun, gain seven life and draw seven cards including, you guessed it, your second Approach of the Second Sun. Cast again next turn to win the game.
If you thought that Bolas wasn’t going to have an impact anytime soon, you’re wrong. Here is In Bolas’s Clutches:
We have seen this ability on cards before in the form of Volition Reins, Take Possession, Lay Claim, and Confiscate. There are some nice targets for this in Standard now, including The Scarab God and Hazoret the Fervent. You can even take their transformed Search for Azcanta. Turning the enchanted permanent legendary could have some minimal bonuses as there are plenty of cards in Dominaria that interact with Legendary permanents, especially creatures.
Have you ever had a creature that is just a little bit too vanilla and nothing going on to get you excited about it? That doesn’t matter anymore, thanks to On Serra’s Wings:
Now you can turn any creature into an Angel of Invention!
Being able to drop this on a three-drop creature you played the previous turn can turn it into a threat that will be hard to beat while attacking or blocking. Like In Bolas’s Clutches it turns the creature into a legendary, which could have some added benefit as well. Two creatures currently in Standard that would love to have this enchantment attached to them are Bristling Hydra and Carnage Tyrant. Having an 8/7 Flying, Vigilance, Trample, Lifelink, Hexproof creature will most certainly win you the game in a short amount of time.
Finally, I have a type of Legendary Artifact, that we haven’t seen since Scars of Mirrodin. Here is another soon to be favourite 0 casting cost artifact with Mox Amber.
Wow, they printed another Mox.
Free mana is nice, but like all the other recent ones, there is a drawback. Specifically, you need to have a legendary creature or Planeswalker on the battlefield.
So, what is there currently available in Standard that will let us activate this new Mox Amber on turn one? Currently there is only one option. Since Hope of Ghirapur is colorless, you aren't able to get any mana off of it with the Mox Amber. That leaves the only other option to cast on turn one as Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter. This will allow you to activate Mox Amber on turn one. Now that you have it actiavted, maybe you can use it for the upcoming reprint of Llanowar Elves? What’s that, four mana on turn two? Yes, please!
There you have it folks, four more amazing new cards from Dominaria that are soon to become Legendary. Which one of these cards are you most looking to playing?
Thanks for joining me this week to start off preview season for Dominaria. There is plenty more to come in the coming weeks leading up to Dominaria, so I hope you join me each day on the Daily Dose of Dominaria to get some insight on what’s to come from the new set.
