I really have to note that those creatures in
the art look like orcs. I would like to wonder
if that foreshadows something in an upcoming
set, but I'm not sure they always put that much
effort into these. They did put a lot of effort
into Theros, though, so you never know. The card
itself is not quite a white Geth's Verdict, but
it's still decent. After all, attacking and
blocking is what creatures do; and while there
are creatures that have activated effects, it's
easier than people usually think to lure them
into attacking. When someone's facing down a
battalion (pun intended) of creatures, you'd be
surprised at the sort of things they'll block
with.
Today's card of the day is Celestial Flare
which is a two White mana instant that has
target player sacrifice an attacking or blocking
creature. White has had many similar cards over
the years, but for two mana and working
offensively or defensively this is one of the
best.
The double White as the cost skews this towards
single color builds and in those this is an
effective weapon, particularly against single
threats such as an evasion or Hexproof based
offense. Overall a solid card that is likely to
see some play, though not outside of a few
specific designs.
In Limited the color dedication is the
biggest drawback as a two mana removal option
for nearly any solo threat is an automatic
inclusion for any deck that can reasonably play
it. As a common there is the possibility for
multiple copies and it is a compelling reason to
run White in Sealed as a sizable portion of the
deck. In Limited this is a strong second or
third pick after a White rare and should remain
in a mono-color deck if at all possible to
maximize efficiency with ease of casting.
On the one hand DE was 1B and CF is WW, so its a
little deeper into the color.
On the other hand it was easy to get around the
Edict by sacrificing some useless creature, but
with the Flare you have to sacrifice something
that was good enough to attack with or something
you might have thought would survive a blocking.
These "sacrifice a creature" cards are meant
to get around protection effects like
indestructibility and shroud. When picking this
card its important to judge how often you need
its effects vs something like Pacifism.
