All the hype I've heard about this creature is
either "oh hey it's a one-sided Wrath" or,
"Wrath costs four mana so this is too slow". But
that's a completely wrong line of thinking.
Sunblast Angel isn't a board wipe spell. If
you're playing it for that, you're playing it
for the wrong reasons. What Sunblast Angel
really is is a 4/5 flying Nekrataal. Think about
it-- you're the one casting Sunblast Angel. You
cast it on your precombat main phase, and you
just untapped, so you'll almost never hit one of
your own creatures with it. Now imagine you hit
one-- just one-- of your opponent's creatures.
For six mana, you got a 4/5 flier and killed a
creature. That sounds worth the price, right?
Now remember that white is the color of tap
effects like Repel the Darkness, Blinding Mage,
and the new Fulgent Distraction. Maybe you can
turn this Angel into a one-sided Wrath... but
that's not why you play it. You come for the 4/5
flier, you stay for the creature destruction.
Considering the implication that she represents
a "power even greater than Phyrexia," it's
arguably a little surprising that Indomitable
Archangel is the mythic one and Sunblast Angel
is "only" the rare one. I can't argue with the
rest of the package, though. Harkening back to
Fifth Dawn's niche card Retaliate, Sunblast
Angel goes one better, giving you the massive
turnaround and a game-winning creature for the
price of one of those things. Try it with Martyr
of Sands or Gideon Jura, to make sure you're
around to enjoy the benefits.
Today's card of the day is Sunblast Angel which is
as a six mana 4/5
with Flying is not overly impressive without the
effect leaving it
slightly lacking compared to other angels unless
the opponent has tapped
creatures. White often plays at least some
control, especially if they
are aiming to play a large creature like this,
but as a sort of
one-sided Wrath of God this has quite a bit of
potential after your
opponent attacks. Using your own effects to tap
their creatures works
as well and just having a creature attached to
this kind of effect is a
nice advantage. While it may not be too
expensive for a control deck
the other options of dedicated removal and
sustainable creatures will
probably win out. They may take two slots to do
what this card can
somewhat do with one, but in general they can do
it far more reliably
which makes a huge difference.
For Limited this is a big Flying creature with a
mass removal effect
that should only work on your opponent. Saying
that it is a first pick
in Booster and a highly tempting choice in
Sealed is a given. The
double White in the casting cost is easily
managed by the time six mana
sources are in play and 4/5 is a difficult
hurdle to overcome in the
format. This is high end creature that can win
games even without the
effect and removing an opponent's entire army
after their attack and
getting this is probably the best kind of
topdeck in a bad situation.
One of the top cards to draft with this is
Glimmerpoint Stag which is in
the same color and can give you a second usage
from the comes into play
ability. As an added bonus the Stag has
Vigilance, so there is little
risk of it being destroyed when the Angel
returns to play.
