It's interesting to see how Chandra has branched
out in her various appearances. Back in Lorwyn,
she was all about the burn, but she's been
dabbling in combo since her Zendikar
incarnation's synergy with madness and
flashback. As the Firebrand, she seems to have
found a revelation about the unity of sorceries
of any color. She still gives a huge boost to
any red burn deck, and those may be her most
common calling. But now she is quite possibly
one of the scariest cards in M12. She's a
one-woman combo - imagine her second ability
with Time Warp. Imagine it with Tooth and Nail,
Evangelize, or Shape Anew. Imagine it with
Destructive Force, Green Sun's Zenith, or
Spectral Procession. Imagine it with Hide/Seek,
Early Harvest, or Parallel Evolution. Time to
design some decks, guys.
Welcome back faithful readers today’s card of
the day is the new form of Chandra and what a
card it is. Four mana is the cut off point for
the majority of planeswalkers Gideo Jura being
the exception that proves the rule. In standard,
extended, and eternal this card has to compete
with the number one current red planeswalker
Koth so how does it stack up in comparison?
Fairly well actually the +1 ability can take out
any number of elves, Birds of Paradise and
creatures such as Dark Confidant and Goblin
Lackey. The ability to copy your spells is great
Lighting Bolt for six damage is tasty and the
final ability can be used to sweep the board and
end games. I predict this card seeing play in
standard whether it replaces Koth is to be seen
but it will be competitive and it will see play.
In extended it will see legitimate play as well
and in eternal, perhaps although planeswalkers
have to be really amazing to see any play. In
casual and multiplayer it is great it comes down
early and can copy game breaking spells and pick
off utility creatures while threatening serious
damage with its ultimate all planeswalkers see
casual and multiplayer play and this is no
exception. In limited it is splashable due to
the single red in the cost and its powerful
obvious first pick. Overall a powerful version
of Chandra that will see loads of play.
Today's card of the day is Chandra, the
Firebrand which is a four mana planeswalker with
three loyalty. The plus one of dealing one
damage to a creature or player isn't overly
impressive, but is fairly similar to creatures
like Prodigal Pyromancer. The minus two
Reverberate is very nice in a burn deck and as
it doesn't cost mana to activate on any turn
after Chandra is played works very well with X
cost spells like Fireball. The minus six
can really clear the board, even in multiplayer,
and do a considerable bit of damage to an
opponent as well. Overall all three
abilities support a burn theme and with the
affordable casting cost of four this Chandra may
see some play in competitive decks.
In Limited, like most planeswalkers, this is a
first pick and should have almost every Red burn
card available drafted as support. She can
destroy smaller creatures or finish off weakened
ones after combat and make even minor spells
into bigger threats while having the final
ability as a concern for the opponent at any
time.
Welcome to Pojo.com’s
Card of the Day section. Let us look closer at
Chandra the Firebrand from the upcoming M12.
Chandra the Firebrand costs three generic and
one red mana. She is of course a planeswalker.
That means she has abilities with loyalty
counters instead of power and toughness. She
enters the battlefield with three loyalty
counters. Her first ability adds one loyalty
counter, and deals one damage to target creature
or player. Her second ability is a minus two,
and says that the next instant or sorcery spell
you play this turn gets copied, and you may
choose new targets for the copy. The third and
final ability is a minus six, and says Chandra
the Firebrand deals six damage to up to six
target creatures and/or players.
Chandra has always been one of my personal favorite
planeswalkers, and this remake makes me love her
even more. Her abilities are astounding, and
work so fluidly with so many things. The
potential that exists using Chandra is
undeniable. Any of her abilities could be
complete game changers. Even her first ability
sets up bloodthirst so easily. I just wish that
the powers that be at Wizards would have
reprinted Chandra’s Spitfire, that would have
been the perfect complement, instead of
Chandra’s Outrage. However, they instead gave us
the also impressive Chandra’s Phoenix.
I think that her second and final abilities will
definitely be the ones to watch out for, with
her first ability being little more than small
creature removal, set up for Bloodthirst, or
even that just annoying ping damage.
The second ability is just plain scary. The fact that you
could copy a Lava Axe, dealing 10 damage for the
same mana as 5. But the truly amazing thing is
her final. The ability to deal a potential 36
damage (if you have six targets) is crazy. Not
much can withstand six damage on turn six, when
you could likely get the ability off. This
massive amount of damage also greatly impacts
multiplayer games, where you could have several
players taking six damage. In vintage formats,
something like a Furnace of Rath goes so nicely
with Chandra the Firebrand. However, while it
remains in standard I see that Quest for the
Pure Flame will see a lot of play time with
Chandra the Firebrand. Her ability to ping away
at a player to get the quest counters on the
Quest for Pure Flame, and then doubling the
final abilities damage is ridiculous.
I cannot wait to see how Chandra the Firebrand
goes about matching wits with rival Jace, but I
think that the release of M12 is going to be a
lot of fun, and definitely change some of the
landscape of Magic.
