Brimaz is an undeniably powerful card, but
that's sort of my concern with him - he has
basically the same abilities as the
super-efficient Hero of Bladehold, but even more
efficient. Sure, if you need a creature that can
dominate combat, attack crazily early in the
game cycle, and is unbelievably hard to deal
with, he's basically the choice for white,
everywhere. But I question whether anybody
really needs any of those things to this extent.
I mean, people played with Stangg way back when,
and they saw nothing wrong with it.
The number eight card of the year is Brimaz,
King of Oreskos which is a three White mana 3/4
Legendary with Vigilance and whenever it attacks
or blocks put a 1/1 White cat soldier token with
Vigilance into play attacking or blocking with
Brimaz. A three mana 3/4 with Vigilance is
already a solid card, but adding an effect that
gives tokens with effective Haste, Vigilance and
the well supported soldier type makes this a top
of the line card. The only drawbacks are the
double White in the cost and being Legendary,
though neither of this are major enough to keep
this out of various builds of White creature
decks. Tokens, soldiers, cats, Commander,
Devotion, and likely others can all make use of
this bargain and overall it will see play
competitively and in Casual for quite some time.
In Limited the double White is a bit more of a
drawback to cast while the Legendary aspect can
be overlooked, but the efficiency, token
generation, and the benefit to Devotion far
outweigh that small concern.
An easy and fairly absolute first pick in
Booster outside of the most broken of double
Rare packs, this is a a card that can enter play
early and really dominate a game if not removed
or opposed by a 4/4 or larger. In Sealed wanting
the deck to primarily be White to reliably cast
this is a factor in design, though it works very
well with the commons and uncommons in the set
to make building around it a little easier.
Every now and then, Wizards prints a card that
is so far above the power of its peers, that it
leaves you scratching your head a little. A 3/4
for 4 - in white, not green - is almost unheard
of. Brimaz would see play just for that. But
that's only the beginning. Vigilance means you
don't have to deal with the tension of whether
or not to leave him back for blocking. Then, his
most famous ability comes in - making baby cats
when he attacks or blocks. These kitties are not
just there to look good, they go to work
immediately and share Brimaz's vigilance
ability.
Brimaz is in his own league. If you need a fast,
aggressive creature, he's your guy. If you are
playing an overwhelming token strategy, he's
your guy. If you're playing a cat tribal deck,
he's your guy. OK, so maybe that's not the
biggest draw, but it could be fun!
I'm actually quite surprised he is as low as #8
on our list. He should be much higher in my
opinion.
