Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Today I’m going to be talking about three cards that'll help you gain card advantage, give you the resource edge, and help you win the game. There are many aspects of a card that I look for to see if it’s good. These can be mana value, power and toughness, keywords and abilities, but one of the most important is card advantage. Questions you must ask yourself are:
- Is this a one-for-one removal or two-for-one removal card?
- Does this card replace itself and act almost like a free spell?
- Am I able to gain value out of this card to cast more spells than just itself?
All these questions will hopefully lead to a yes answer and help you gain card advantage over your opponent. First up today is a Devil God that's reminding players of Griselbrand. Here's Asmodeus the Archfiend.
Asmodeus the Archfiend
To start off you get a 6/6 for six mana which is fine, but it would've been nice to have a keyword or two thrown in there. What it lacks in keywords, it makes up for in abilities. The upside of this card is that you can draw seven cards for only three Black mana. The downside of this card is that those seven cards are going into exile, as well as each card you draw from then onwards. I find this to be a very situational card that can either be beneficial if you have the life, or a 6/6 creature that doesn’t allow you to draw cards without losing life. I’m sure that someone will find a way to break this card and I’m looking forward to it.
Next up is a creature famous in Dungeons & Dragons for its one-eye stare. Here's Xanathar, Guild Kingpin.
Xanathar, Guild Kingpin
This is one of those creatures that if it hits the battlefield will have a huge target on its head. During your turn, you basically have an Experimental Frenzy for your opponents’ library. We've seen the damage that that can cause and the card advantage you can gain. You can keep playing cards as long as you have mana or run into a second land. This can lead to a string of free cards and move the card advantage arrow in your direction. One of the best parts about this though is that you can also use the knowledge you have of your opponents’ library to manipulate their future card draws. You can make it so they draw only lands for the rest of the game or draw a spell that won’t affect the current game.
Finally, I want to talk about one of the cards I’m looking forward to playing the most because of its ability to help you take over the game, even with its randomness. Here's The Deck of Many Things.
The Deck of Many Things
This is one of my favourite cards from the new set and I can’t wait to play it. Let’s break down all the abilities and die results for this card.
2, T: Roll a d20 and subtract the number of cards in your hand. If the result is 0 or less, discard your hand. – Getting anything below one will be devastating, so it’s not recommended you use this ability if you're loaded with a full hand. It’s best to play the odds and wait until you have one-two cards in hand or, even better, zero.
1-9 | Return a card at random from your graveyard to your hand. – This “bad” result is still rather good. Even though the card you get back is random, you're still gaining an additional card in your hand. Over time this resource advantage will help you win, even if it isn’t the best card you could have got.
10-19 | Draw two cards. – This roll result speaks for itself. Drawing an additional two cards per turn will put you ahead quickly.
20 | Put a creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. When that creature dies, its owner loses the game. – To get this roll result, you will both have to roll a twenty and have zero cards in your hand. If you do though, this card gives you an almost ultimate-like effect.
As you can see, gaining card advantage can be done in many ways in the new set. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose and join me again next week as it’s time for the Ultimate Guide to Prerelease and Limited for Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
