Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Today it’s time to equip your best weapon and look at some cards from the new set. Part of being an adventurer is having a sweet weapon to wield against your opponent. This is accomplished through Equipment in Magic and we’ve got a sweet new Equipment to talk about today. I’m also going to be talking about the best friend to Equipment, Dwarves. Dwarves have been big fans of Equipment in Magic for years and this continues in AFR.
Before I get to the two new Equipment-related cards, I want to talk about two new situational removal cards that are going to be added to the format next month. Here are Portable Hole and Power Word Kill.
Portable Hole and Power Word Kill
Portable Hole is a one-mana version of spells we’ve seen before from White. They are usually two-to-four mana Enchantments or Artifacts with a similar ability. Portable Hole is just limited by its ability to target creatures with mana value two or less. It could become a great sideboard way of dealing with aggressive decks in Standard.
We've also got Power Word Kill, which kills almost every major creature being played in Standard today. The biggest obstacle would be if you played against an Izzet Dragons deck, but even then, you'd be able to target half the creatures in the deck. I would classify Power Word Kill as the better overall removal spell of the two.
Now let’s get to the new Legendary Dwarf. Here's Bruenor Battlehammer.
Bruenor Battlehammer
Bruenor Battlehammer is the card Equipment decks have been looking for. To start off you get a five-power creature for four mana, which is strong on its own. Next up, it gives any equipped creature a bonus +2/+0 for each Equipment attached to it. To make it even easier, the first equip each turn costs zero, allowing you to equip much easier than usual.
Let’s talk about some Equipment currently in Standard that could benefit from this card. The first choice, of course, is Embercleave. It now provides +3/+1 and double strike, and if needed later, can re-equip to a different creature for zero mana. Bearded Axe will grant this Dwarf +4/+2, not too shabby. Maul of the Skyclaves is probably one of the biggest rewards, granting +4/+2, flying, and first strike. On top of that, you can avoid the hefty four mana re-equip cost. Mirror Shield gives your creature +2/+2 and most importantly hexproof. Make sure you don’t forget Shadowspear that would grant +3/+1, trample, and lifelink.
Finally, I want to talk about a new powerful Equipment with the chance to win the game. Here's Vorpal Sword.
Vorpal Sword
This is a sweet one-mana Equipment that has one of the most powerful keywords you can have on Equipment, deathtouch. The equip cost is not too bad at only two mana, but it’s got quite the expensive game-winning ability. If you want to instead play Vorpal Sword in a control build, you might only need to hit your opponent with one attack to win the game. For eight mana you can turn deathtouch into game-winning deathtouch. Its a unique way to win the game and one I’m looking forward to trying in both Limited and Constructed play.
There you have it folks, bring out your most powerful weapon and wield it to victory. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose and join me again tomorrow as our adventure continues into the Forgotten Realms.
