Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Dominaria, the series where I review the latest previews from Dominaria and examine how they will impact gameplay in the months to come.
In the past couple of weeks I’ve talked about a lot, and I mean a lot, of Legendary permanents from Dominaria. Today I'm changing things up to focus on a prominent creature type from Dominaria. In talking about blue Legendary creatures last week, we already saw some of the powerful new Wizards with Naban, Dean of Iteration and Naru Meha, Master Wizard.
Before I go into some more awesome Wizards from Dominaria, I want to first look at what Standard currently offers us when it comes to Wizard creatures. There are currently 32 Wizards in Standard, but instead of listing them all I’ll talk about some of the standouts from blue and red, since that's where most Wizard creatures in Dominaria come from. This narrows the list down to 23 Wizards. Let's have a look at some of the best.
Champion of Wits – A great three-drop to fit in perfectly after the two-drop Legendary creatures shown above. A great way to smooth out your draws and make sure you get the lands you need every turn.
Siren Stormtamer – With a lot of the new cards in Dominaria having abilities dependant on controlling Wizards on the battlefield, having a one-drop creature you can play will help you maximize the value of those creatures’ triggers.
Soul-Scar Mage – Another great one-drop Wizard creature. Your deck will be playing some red and blue non-creature spells, which will trigger Soul-Scar Mage’s prowess repeatedly.
Nimble Obstructionist – This neat three-drop Wizard can be cycled to counter a trigger if needed or be flashed in as an emergency blocker.
Now, let me move on to Dominaria. First I want to talk about a pair of spells that go from good to great if you control a Wizard. Here are Wizard’s Retort and Wizard’s Lightning:
Wizard’s Retort is another in the long list of counterspells that cost three mana to cast, but sometimes can be cast for two mana. Since they won’t be reprinting Counterspell anytime soon, this spell will do for now.
With a couple of one-drop Wizard creatures, there is a good chance that you can could have this active to play on turn two if needed. I myself am more interested in Wizard’s Lightning. Currently there are some comparable spells in Standard with Lightning Strike for two mana and Open Fire for three mana.
I’m much more willing to play Wizard’s Lightning over Lightning Strike in a Wizard deck for the chance that you will be able to cast it for only one mana most of the time. If it’s later in the game and you draw this with an empty battlefield, the higher cost of three mana shouldn’t be an issue at that point.
Next is another non-creature card that increases in value when equipped on a Wizard. That’s right, here is some awesome new Equipment for your Wizard deck. Let's take a look at Sorcerer’s Wand:
Sometimes you have some Wizards that have great abilities like Naban, Dean of Iteration, but don’t often attack because of their lower power and toughness stats. Sorcerer’s Wand guarantees that they will provide you some value every turn. If they kill that Wizard, you can just pop this on the next one, making sure that you are able to deal two damage every turn with Sorcerer’s Wand. Ideally, you would also be able to target creatures with it, but with the new rulings you are able to target either a player or a Planeswalker.
Now I talked about two Legendary Wizard creatures earlier, but they have decided that they need one more Legendary friend in the council of Wizards. Here is Adeliz, the Cinder Wind:
Ignoring its last ability for now, right off the bat you get a 2/2 creature with flying and haste, which most times will just be a guaranteed two damage to the face. Revisiting that last ability, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind’s main ability basically gives all of your Wizards the Prowess ability. Any instant or sorcery spell you cast will pump up the entire team allowing you to get in for a potentially lethal attack.
I don’t know about you, but I think there are enough tools in this tool bag to make a fun Wizards deck in Standard. You have creatures that can hit all the mana curves from one to three quite consistently, as well as spells and equipment that help you stay ahead on the battlefield. I’m looking forward to brewing something come April for this council of Wizards.
Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Dominaria with my talk today on the Wizards of Dominaria. Join me again tomorrow as I talk about the Knights of Dominaria, and their impact on the format.
