Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Dominaria, where today I’m going to be continuing my analysis of Dominaria's Legendary creatures.
Yesterday, I talked about what white creatures we'll be seeing, but today I want to shift my focus to the new blue Legendary creatures. Blue Legendary creatures typically focus on helping control decks and improving card advantage. In Dominaria, things are changing with the new blue Legendary creatures gaining some interesting new abilities. Each ability they offer can be maximized if you are able to build the right deck around them. So let’s not put these previews off any longer, and delve straight into these new blue powerhouses.
The first card I’m going to talk about involves Umezawa, a term that has only appeared in the name of three cards before. Here is Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive:
This is a card that you can build a deck around. In fact, if selected correctly you could make a deck where you none of your creatures can be blocked. There are tons of creatures currently in Standard with power or toughness of one or less, but which ones could really shine with this card?
The first card that jumps to mind is Combat Celebrant. One of the biggest downfalls of this creature is that it almost certainly dies during combat because of its one toughness. But with Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive it now is unable to be blocked, allowing it to survive combat and perhaps use its ability again on another turn. Another creature that could benefit is Dreamstealer. Being able to have guaranteed card removal each turn is quite powerful. Lastly, if Wildfire Eternal isn’t blocked, it will allow you to play a powerful instant or sorcery card from your hand without paying its mana cost.
Next up is a creature that looks to maximize value from some enter the battlefield triggers. Let's look at Naban, Dean of Iteration:
Here's another two-mana blue Legendary creature that could have a huge impact. Although Naban's ability only triggers when a Wizard enters the battlefield, there are still plenty or enablers for it. Let’s have a look at some strong candidates currently in Standard.
Currently, Champion of Wits is a powerful card played in plenty of Standard decks. Now, even without eternalizing it, you will be able to draw four cards to better improve your card selection. With Naban, Dean of Iteration on the battlefield, you can now have Resilient Khenra give a creature +4/+4 for only two mana, or +8/+8 when eternalized. You will also be able to draw two cards off Silvergill Adept for only two mana. You can even search your library for two artifacts with Trophy Mage.
Don’t forget that Dominaria will have tons of Wizards as well. For example, here is one that will take advantage of Naban, Dean of Iteration’s ability. Here is Firefist Adept:
It might not be blue, but does that matter when you can deal X times two damage to one large creature, or X damage to two different creatures? I am a big fan of Panharmonicon and can’t wait to see how this card will fare with the right deck built around it.
Finally, I want to look at a card that you can think of as adding "Kicker: 2UU" to any other instant or sorcery you have. Here is Naru Meha, Master Wizard:
This is a flash creature that has more uses than just copying an instant or sorcery spell. But before I talk about that, there are few more ways you can surprise your opponent with this card. First off, you can use it as a surprise defender in a pinch. A 3/3 surprise defender can catch your opponent off guard and kill most attackers coming your way. Another use is to pump up all your other Wizards so that your opponent just made some unfavourable blocks while allowing your other Wizards to survive combat.
Spending four mana to be able to copy an instant or sorcery spell is quite a high cost to pay, but there will be times in a long matchup that you are able to copy a draw or damage spell. You will most likely need to have seven to eight mana available at the time to make this possible. A lot of times in sealed, and possibly in a Wizard Standard deck, it will be most beneficial as a Wizard lord to pump up all your other Wizards.
Now that we’ve seen what Dominaria has in store for blue Legendary creatures, let me have a look at what Standard currently has for them.
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Baral, Chief of Compliance
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Kefnet the Mindful
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Kopala, Warden of Waves
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Padeem, Consul of Innovation
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Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
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All of these are quite different than what Dominaria will bring to the table, so it’ll be nice to have a new mix of blue Legendary creatures to use.
Which one is your favourite new blue Legendary creature? Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Dominaria. Join me again tomorrow as I investigate some of the amazing new black Legendary creatures in Dominaria!
