Welcome all to another week on the Daily Dose of War of the Spark. With all those Planeswalkers running around Ravnica, we can’t forget that there are plenty of new and amazing legendary creatures in Ravnica as well. Today I’ll be talking about an assassin that will keep killing until she’s the only one left, a planeswalker and his loyal companion, and finally someone who is a friend to wolves. Making a creature legendary is a design space that Magic uses to create a card that is almost between rarity levels. A legendary uncommon creature is better than most uncommon creatures, but not quite good enough to be considered a rare. Legendary creatures also play around with abilities that might not seem good in duplicates, therefore you only need one copy of them on the battlefield.
First off, I want to talk about a planeswalker and his loyal companion. Here is Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter and Mowu, Loyal Companion.
In War of the Spark, each Planeswalker has a card that goes with it, these two are obviously paired together. Let’s break down the abilities of the planeswalker.
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has "T: Add one mana of any color." – There are plenty of ways to put +1/+1 counters on creatures in War of the Spark and there are already plenty of creatures that get +1/+1 counters on them in Standard already. Cards like Hydroid Krasis and Jadelight Ranger will be able to be tapped for mana. Even if you don’t have any creatures with +1/+1 counters on them, his next ability will fix that.
[-1]: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. – Being able to repeatedly add power to creatures is strong. There are so many creatures that gain bonuses from these counters which adds even more value to the process. I have no problem getting Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter’s loyalty down to 0 if it means I’ve added three +1/+1 counters over the course of the game. Major value right there.
As you can now see, Mowu, Loyal Companion works very well in combination with Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter. Casting the planeswalker on turn three, followed by the hound on turn four means you can have a 5/5 vigilance, trample creature on the battlefield. Each turn with Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter on the battlefield means you will be able to add more and more counters to Mowu, Loyal Companion to quickly make it a strong threat.
Now I want to talk about a legendary creature that can only be described as epic. Here is Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves.
What is not to like about this card. Every line of text just keeps adding more and more value to the card. Getting 6 total power onto the battlefield is always welcome. Having them separated into two creatures can have its advantages as well. Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves works great as a blink and copy target as well. You’ll still get a 3/3 wolf (as long as the original wolf has dies at some point) and you get to fight with that wolf again. If you happen to draft or open a few more wolves for your deck, you will get that super-duper bonus value from the card as well. Like I mentioned, this card is a value train that keeps on chugging.
Finally, the award to best name on a Magic card goes to, Massacre Girl.
Kudos, to whoever named this card and the artist Chris Ralles for some sweet artwork to best depict this card visually. As a creature it is a strong 4/4 creature with menace, making it hard to kill when its attacking. To best explain Massacre Girl’s ability, if you have creatures with 1, 2, 3, and 4 toughness respectively on the battlefield they are all going to die. When the 1 toughness creature dies, it triggers the ability giving -1/-1 to all other creatures. This repeats again and again until no other creature dies or only Massacre Girl remains. This would be great against a deck like Mono White Aggro that often has creatures at multiple toughness levels. Look for this creature to be put into sideboards in all sorts of different decks that want a one-sided board clear.
As you can see, there are still plenty of legendary creatures kicking around in War of the Spark and each of them is bringing something special to the table. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of War of the Spark. Join me again tomorrow as I talk about a returning mechanic in War of the Spark.
