A 2/2 flyer with haste for three mana would be
good with no further embellishment. People
played Skyknight Legionnaire once upon a time.
But Chandra's Phoenix is also a bottomless tank
of never say die. A 2/2 with haste is unlikely
to live long, even with flying, but any of
Chandra's three incarnations can regrow it, as
well as just about any burn spell in the book
save Flame Slash. Red has always struggled to
draw cards, but that doesn't mean it never gets
card advantage, and when the Phoenix can eat
kill spell after kill spell, provide fodder to
neutralize discard and mill spells, and still
keep coming back to swing for 2, you've got a
winner.
There's so much to like about this card - the
art that could be a textbook example of how to
draw motion and heat, the opportunity for red to
get actual card advantage and graveyard
recursion, the fact that it works amazingly well
with not one, not two, but all three
planeswalker cards that depict Chandra. At this
point, Kor Firewalker probably isn't going to be
enough to hold back the metaphorical tide any
more (assuming Dismember hasn't become the
catch-all answer to it yet). I find it hard to
imagine any way this card isn't going to be an
instant hit in every form of play.
Today's card of the day is Chandra's Phoenix
which is a three mana 2/2 with Flying, Haste,
and returns to your hand from the graveyard
whenever a Red instant, sorcery, or planeswalker
you control deals damage to an opponent.
For three mana this is an absolute bargain and
an excellent choice to include in any Red deck
using a decent supply of burn, a Chandra, or
both. Even without those a three mana 2/2
with Flying and Haste is very aggressive and if
your opponent is short on Flying they can spend
quite a bit of removal dealing with this one
creature.
Overall this is something that can keep pressure
on the opponent and works as card advantage,
with burn as both support and a general deck
design already this should be a frequent sight
in decks for the foreseeable future.
In Limited this combines the big advantages of
Flying, Haste, and possible card advantage with
the only real drawback being the double Red in
the casting cost. Aside from the clear
difficulty in splashing this or using
effectively in a two color deck, the benefits
more than make up for it. A Sealed pool
with Red as the primary color, particularly one
with a few burn spells available, should always
play this. Any burn spells, in particular
Chandra's Outrage or Fling which also work as
removal, are even more valuable in a deck with
the Phoenix. Even with the low power and
toughness this is a viable first pick in Booster
as it can be a recurring, though it isn't quite
as powerful as in the Constructed formats.
Welcome to another
card of the day review here at Pojo.com. Today
we are looking at Chandra’s Phoenix from M12.
Chandra’s Phoenix is a red creature card that
costs two red and one generic mana. Chandra’s
Phoenix is a 2/2 flier with haste that says if
damage would be dealt to an opponent by a red
instant or sorcery, or by a red Planeswalker you
control, return Chandra’s Phoenix from your
graveyard to your hand.
This card is a lot of fun, mainly since I love red. It
combos very nicely with each Chandra there has
been. And if used in the right style deck, this
card can be very lethal. If ran with other
Phoenix, the likely running buddy for this would
be Door of Destinies, since they continuously
pop back from the graveyard to the battlefield,
than the counters just keep going higher, making
your seemingly indestructible phoenixes weapons
of mass destruction. Now combine your undying
army with another card from M12, Warstorm Surge.
This means each of your massive Phoenixes deals
damage equal to its power to target creature or
player.
I definitely like the Chandra’s Phoenix more for
Vintage play. In standard it is still a 2/2
flier with haste on turn three, that can either
hold off attackers from your Planeswalker for
awhile, or just try smashing your opponent in
the face.
