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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Whelming Wave
Image from Wizards.com

 Whelming Wave
- Born of the Gods

Reviewed February 25, 2014

Constructed: 3.63
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 3.63
Multiplayer: 3.88

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 being the worst.  3 - average.  5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Whelming Wave

Cards like Evacuation have always found use as "blue Wraths". Against a quick aggro deck, a controlling build may find a simple Voyage's End just isn't enough to stop the cavalcade of quick beats coming at you. Something like this can clear the board and make the aggro player start fresh, especially when you've just topdecked that blocker you needed three turns ago. But of course, that's not the interesting part. This isn't just Evac, it's Evac PLUS you get to keep a threat on the board. A BIG one, most likely.

In Theros block, there are currently six cards that will stay in play once you've cast this. Floodtide Serpent is filler and not worth playing. Sealock Monster is decent enough in Limited for its spot on the curve. It's the three Krakens that make this card interesting, all three of them costly but fearsome threats once they hit the board. The sixth card is Kiora, the Crashing Wave, who isn't a creature but whose Ultimate can make Kraken tokens. Expanding the list to Standard doesn't add much-- only Nimbus Swimmer, who might actually benefit from being bounced and re-cast later. Unfortunately, all of Thassa's most fearsome beasts tend to suffer from "Island Fish Jasconius syndrome"-- bouncing everything but them would be a beating, but a deck that runs that many overcosted creatures isn't on the fast track to victory anyway.

Luckily, Whelming Wave isn't too hindered by the foibles of its tribes. Like I said before, it's still Evacuation, and that gets played. Plus somewhere out there is a guy who's shuffling up one of these into his casual Changeling Zoo deck, and that sounds like fun.

Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 4
Limited- 4
Multiplayer- 4

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Whelming Wave
 
In FNM and higher settings, this card basically reads "Return all creatures your opponents control to their hand." But while powerful and worth playing, that is, frankly, boring. This card was clearly intended for the people who recreated Kiora Atua's deck from Duels of the Planeswalkers in real life. It's for the people whose Changeling Zoo deck has trouble punching through herds of Saproling tokens. It's for the people who play Quest for Ula's Temple in a deck whose nickname includes the word "R'lyeh". And since it works on Gods - remember that's a creature type that isn't Kraken, Octopus, Serpent, or Leviathan - it should be for Kiora to use to conquer Theros (or would be if we didn't already know that the story is about Elspeth).
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 5/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Whelming Wave which is a four mana Blue sorcery that returns all creatures to the hands of their owners with the exception of krakens, leviathans, octopuses, and serpents. There are enough creatures in those types or that count as those types to build a deck around, though it is a fairly small pool overall to work with. A deck with a few members of that group using this to mostly clear the field is a viable strategy and one that may see competitive play alongside Kiora, Nimbus Swimmer, Quest for Ula's Temple, Kraken Hatchling, or changelings. Even without creatures immune to the bounce it is a variant on Wrath of God that works well with enters play abilities and Haste, offering many deck possibilities in Standard, Modern, and Multiplayer.

In Limited this resets the field for a turn in most situations and is an annoyance at worst that leaves you at a four mana disadvantage in recovering for being the one to cast it, though it is balanced by having the first creature plays and usually first attack afterwards.
Definitely playable and a reasonable first pick in Booster and otherwise lower priority cards like Kraken of the Straits gains extra value as a second or third pick. In Sealed the pool benefits from cards immune to the effect, but even without them it is well worth including in a Blue deck if the pool is playable.

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.0
Multiplayer: 4.0


Skid Rambo

Whelming Wave made all of the Serpents, Leviathans and Krakens swim from the bottom of card boxes with the hopes of being put into a deck! Tromokratis is leading the charge while sitting perfectly still. Whelming Wave might be taking the place of Supreme Verdict as the prime removal spell in standard control. Four mana is really cheap for a card that returns almost all creatures to their owner’s hands. I could see Whelming Wave becoming more and more popular as time goes by. Removal spells that can give you a clear advantage are hard to come by. I have my fingers crossed with hopes that we will be seeing a Mythic Octopus printed soon!

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3.5


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