Beluna Grandsquall – Wilds of Eldraine
Date Reviewed: September 19, 2023
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.88
Casual: 4.50
Limited: 3.63
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Beluna plays at least three or four roles in Wilds of Eldraine, not all of which are gameplay-related. She is a reference to the greedy giant from story of Jack and the Beanstalk, but with a healthy dose of DnD’s cloud giants and thus the heritage of mighty elemental beings like Norse mythology’s Utgard-Loki, which I really like to see. I suspect a lot of people are going to be equally excited that she’s a commander for “adventure tribal” decks, and a similar type of card for Standard and other comparatively small formats. She’s probably not a power-up on the level of Lucky Clover, but cost reduction is always worth looking into; and we know that just one mana in cost is sometimes enough to take a spell from limited to constructed. And on top of all that, she’s a three-mana 4/4 for a deck that can meet her restrictive cost – I remember well how strong Anafenza was, even in games where her abilities didn’t come up.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Adventures are certainly a card class that has a healthy amount of intrigue, and Beluna Grandsquall is a sort of “adventure matters” support card, able to dig them out and enable them a bit. Five mana to potentially draw seven is a very good rate of return; you’re not likely to draw seven, of course, but even three or four cards is fine, and just one is acceptable if it’s a good one. She can then come out as a slightly above-rate creature that makes the second half of each adventure cast a bit more impactful.
In general, adventures are stronger than average because of their nature as a two-for-one card type; you get one effect then, and you get a permanent later. Beluna Grandsquall helps set up the first halves and makes casting second halves easier or just casting the permanent halves at a discount. The downside is that three colors is hard to finagle at times, especially with Wilds of Eldraine not being explicitly multicolor; it’s powerful, to be sure, but the color demands may well make Beluna Grandsquall sit dead more often than you might like.
Constructed: 3.75
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 3.75
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4
We would love more volunteers to help us with our Magic the Gathering Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. We would be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc. 😉
