I'm pretty sure EDH is the whole reason M13 has
legendary creatures. As a general, Talrand is a
pretty good choice for a monoblue control deck.
He lets you pack your whole deck full of Blue's
best instants and sorceries, confident that you
can fill the board with Drake tokens once
Talrand hits the board. Just make sure that some
of those instants and sorceries you plan to play
are ways to keep Talrand alive-- counterspells,
mostly. And EDh isn't really a format that lends
itself well to a deck full of countermagic-- I
can see it becoming pretty unpopular in your
local playgroup.
In non-casual formats, Talrand may be a bit slow
for a control deck-- he doesn't actually do
anything until you play some follow-up spells.
Though white-blue token decks might like to play
him alongside Lingering Souls and Geist of Saint
Traft.
I have a couple of issues with how Talrand was
implemented, but none of those have to do with
his game text. If he's from Shandalar, the
setting of the famous MicroProse Magic: the
Gathering game from 1997, why doesn't he mention
it anywhere in his flavor text? Why is he this
guy instead of any of the characters who
actually appeared in that game? I seriously
doubt that this one gesture is going to be
enough to specifically attract people who
remember that game: I bet a lot of those people
saw Talrand somewhere and didn't even know he
was supposed to be from Shandalar.
Yes, Talrand belongs very much to the modern
era, and mechanically, he fits very well in
current decks. He's a natural fit for Delver of
Secrets decks which are interested in the same
things he is, and he's almost certain to be of
value once Return to Ravnica arrives, as the
Izzet guild has an interest in instants and
sorceries. He's also a strong argument that
creatures that involve synergy are in fact
better than ones that are "just good," contrary
to what some have suggested (Mark Rosewater, for
one. Better start writing those letters,
people).
Welcome back readers todays card of the day
unlike yesterday has some flavor and a shot at
the big time for competitive. In standard this
card combines well with cheap cards hmm blue may
have some of those, Ponder, Gitaxian Probe,
Vapor Snag among others turning it into a 2/2
producing machine just riding the waves of
powerful cards in the format and fitting into a
deck with lots of instants and sorceries kind of
like Snapcaster Mage and Delver of Secrets gee
this all just falls together. The only downside
is hoarding your cheap cards when you may need
to play them early and not wait for a four drop
to make more action. In modern and legacy and
vintage I could see this having fringe play but
not as big of an impact as in standard. In
casual and multiplayer and commander this guy is
amazing making flying 2/2 blockers or attackers
this guy is also a merfolk giving him some
tribal applications and support. In limited it
gets better the more spells you have obviously
so that is a consideration giving you a powerful
flying offense. Overall a powerful card for the
current standard and great for casual and
multiplayer environments.
Today's card of the day is Talrand, Sky
Summoner which is a four mana Blue 2/2 Legendary
that will put a 2/2 Flying drake into play
whenever you cast an instant or sorcery.
This is a win condition for Blue control or even
just any Blue deck that uses spells heavily to
manipulate libraries or other effects.
Black's removal or Red's burn are other options
and even White or Green can offer a theme that
benefits from 2/2 Flying on nearly every spell
cast. Just one 2/2 produced from this
justifies the four mana casting cost and any
others make this a very efficient threat that
can be protected by the very cards that activate
the effect. This will see play frequently,
if not necessarily at the very top end of the
tournament scene.
For Limited the general lack of non-creature
spells weakens this a bit, but tokens and Flying
win in these formats and this is an easy first
pick that should be supported in later Booster
draws. Even a weak Sealed pool should have
some spells in a color Blue can be paired with
and there really is no drawback to working with
this when it turns many cards into noticeable
threats.
Welcome to another great card of the day
review here at Pojo.com. Today we look at
Talrand Sky Summoner from M13. Talrand is a rare
blue legendary creature merfolk wizard that
costs two blue and two generic mana and is a
2/2. Talrand says whenever you cast an instant
or sorcery card, put a 2/2 blue Drake creature
token with flying onto the battlefield.
Talrand is a great general , and one of
the better legendary creatures printed. He can
certaintly bring an army with him, while you
spell sling away. Talrand should work amazingly
with Delver style decks, or decks based around
milling via spells, since you gain defenders
while attacking the deck. And if you run Talrand
in a mill deck, you are also going to probably
want to run Mindcranks and perhaps then also run
Undead Alchemist as a tandem. This would mean a
lot of tokens, which means a good defense,
translates to an all out offensive that turns
into a lot of damage, which means a lot more
tokens.
Blue green decks would also be able to
take good advantage, since they could drop the
Parallel Lives into play, and then one spell
turns into two tokens, which can become out of
hand.
All out just a well made creature that
has a lot of applications if used properly.
Cannot wait to see what happens with Talrand
when we Return to Ravnica and Talrand mingles
with the Izzet.
