Today we review the greatest of all
Soltroopers. Ikaz, the Spyroid has been
surprisingly ignored by a community that is
so set in its ways. Perhaps the reason is
because duelists are too accustomed with
what they’re used to and have not yet
explored the new races. Nevertheless, it’s
time to unveil the sleeper.
Ikaz, the Spyroid
Cost:
4
Race:
Soltrooper
Civilization:
Light
Type:
Creature
Rules Text:
·
Blocker
(Whenever an opponent's creature attacks,
you may tap this creature to stop the
attack. Then the 2 creatures battle.)
·
Whenever this creature blocks, choose one of
your creatures in the battle zone. Untap it
after the battle.
·
This creature can’t attack players.
Power:
4000
At first glance Ikaz looks like a failed
attempt to revitalize our dying interest in
blockers. However, even at first glance the
creature still looks fairly solid. Having a
cost of 4 mana for 4000 power is not very
ideal for a blocker but it’s still
manageable. It’s like paying 4 mana for any
other 4000 power creature, which can block
instead of attack players. Keep in mind
that the Light Civilization is fairly
self-sufficient and it’s capable of powering
itself up, blocking, drawing cards, etc.
Like I said, it’s not the greatest power but
it’s still manageable.
Now on to the best part… Whenever Ikaz
blocks we get to choose a creature in the
battle zone and untap it after the battle.
It’s pretty bizarre wording but let’s first
break it down by looking for restrictions
and/or drawbacks… Hmmm, no restrictions and
no drawbacks. What does this mean? It
means that we are not restricted from
choosing to untap Ikaz after it blocks.
Just think of how beautiful this effect is.
Unless your opponent can kill Ikaz you can
block forever with your beefy 4000 power
creature. It should almost make us want to
take our Spiral Grasses (which we don’t
really use anyway) and desecrate them in
every way appropriate.
Let’s take it a step further and consider
support cards like Pala Olesis and Petrova.
Once you get Ikaz juiced up with these two
bauties and are able to keep Ikaz on the
field, you’ve pretty much got the game
locked up. It’s so evil. But why stop
there? We can cast a Slime Veil and have
our opponent’s creatures march to their
doom. A Light/Darkness deck would be
perfect for this card because Ikaz will
surely draw a lot of hate. Darkness will
offer the graveyard recursion that we need.
Alas one of my favorite strategies has been
blown. Enjoy.
J
The Good:
It a friggin’ wall!
The Bad:
It can’t attack players but us light
duelists are always able to manage.
The Ugly:
It’s a rare from the Shattered Rainbow set
so it will tough getting multiple copies.
Constructed Rating:
5/5 – Yes, it’s perfect!!! Just lock the
game and let your other creatures take over
Limited Rating:
5/5 – Holy crap! Two perfect scores!
Blockers are a very desirable commodity in
limited and this creature will not
let you down.
Please feel free to post your comments,
questions, and/or objections on the Message
Board and I’ll be more than happy to
respond. Happy dueling!
- DRY 1337
