Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Core Set 2021. Today I’m going to talk to you about a cycle of cards, but not one that spans multiple colours, but what’s called a vertical cycle of cards all from one colour involving Magic’s newest Planeswalker Basri Ket. Horizontal cycles of cards would involve cards like Simic Charm which are a part of a cycle of Charm cards from each Guild. In Core Set 2021, is take each mono-coloured planeswalker and made a common, uncommon and rare that is associated by name to the planeswalker.
Let’s start off with the common of this cycle, here is Basri’s Acolyte.
Basri's Acolyte
This card is straight forward enough starting with a 2/3 creature with lifelink. The card is okay for a common. But, where it can be a little ahead of the curve, is if you have two other creatures to add +1/+1 counters on. This would put four power on the battlefield for four mana, which is better than average for a common card. It’s not a constructed playable card, but it could work Limited with the right deck build.
Next up is the uncommon card of the cycle. If you already have some creatures on the battlefield, you need to find a way to pump them up. In comes the brand-new Basri’s Solidarity.
Basri's Solidarity
This is a mid-to-late game card that can allow you to overrun your opponent. It can be a dead card earlier in the game, even if you play a creature on turn one as adding just one counter on turn two to a creature might not be worth it. Being a sorcery means you won’t be able to surprise your opponent during combat. I would say the tipping point of this card becoming better than average in the value category is if you have three or more creature on the battlefield.
Next is a rare card with protection like what we’ve seen recently on Stonecoil Serpent. Here is Basri’s Lieutenant.
Basri's Lieutenant
This is one of my frontrunners for favourite creatures in the new set. There are so many parts to this card, I just don’t know where to being! You can have it become a 4/5 creature with vigilance for only four mana, and the protection from multicoloured is really important. I’ve played Stonecoil Serpent and I have seen some decks have no mono-coloured answers to deal with it. It even has some death protection if it does die in the form of a 2/2 Knight Token. With the cards mentioned above, your entire army could turn into 2/2 Knight Tokens providing you with a second layer attack against your opponent.
Now that you’ve seen the other three cards in the cycle, it’s time to see the main attraction. Here is Basri Ket.
Basri Ket
We all know how dangerous three-mana planeswalkers have been in Standard over the past couple of years, but will Basri Ket provide those same issues? Let’s break down the abilities for this card:
[+1]: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature. It gains indestructible until end of turn. – Playing this following a turn two creature will allow you to start growing it larger and breaking through combat defences. A nice trick would be using this ability before casting a sweeper like Shatter the Sky to guarantee your attacker gets through for damage.
[-2]: Whenever one or more nontoken creatures attack this turn, create that many 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens that are tapped and attacking. – This is an ability you want to be using late in the game as a finisher once you’ve got a strong battlefield full of creatures already. It will rarely be used the turn Basri Ket enters the battlefield and there are some games you won’t be able to use this ability effectively at all.
[-6]: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token, then put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control." – Like most ultimate abilities, this one is a home run. Each turn you get a 2/2 creature with a chance of adding even more power to the battlefield.
There you have it, one of the 5 vertical cycles you will see in Core Set 2021. It’s great to have a group of cards from the same colour working together towards a common goal. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Core Set 2021. Join me again tomorrow for some for Core Set 2021 previews!
