The Creation of Avacyn– Modern Horizons III
Date Reviewed: June 17, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.63
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 4.25
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:
In addition to the flip planeswalkers, each one of the five got a Saga enchantment depicting something related to their history. The Creation of Avacyn is Sorin’s associated Saga, and it’s a pretty flavorful one; he created Avacyn to help protect Innistrad and its denizens from Bad Things. Of course, Avacyn wouldn’t last, thanks to some tentacles, but she was effective for a while.
As for The Creation of Avacyn, it offers a fairly rare effect to black: cheating a creature into play without needing a graveyard intermediary. It does take time to get there: you get this two turns after it gets played, and it will cost you life, but if the creature is big enough or terrifying enough, it can be well worth it. You do get nothing if it gets popped on the way, but enchantment removal isn’t as universal as creature removal. Also, if you don’t need the creature, you can just use this as a slow tutor…it’s not a great tutor, but it can be handy in a pinch.
I do think that this costing three mana means The Creation of Avacyn can be a bit of a surprise in Legacy with a timely Dark Ritual…while playing this on turn 3 is a touch slow, as you get the creature on turn 5, getting the threat on turn 3 is a bit better. It’s not likely to be an all-star, but this lets black do a couple funny things it might not normally do, ad that makes it a fun consideration.
Constructed: 3.75
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4
Usually we associate getting creatures directly into play in a surprising manner with green, rather than black. Keep in mind that this does take three turns and cost you life, which makes it clear that green is stronger at it and makes the card feel black. I think there’s something to be said for this sort of design, honestly. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it finds a niche in constructed formats, perhaps even tournament ones. Most tournament-level tutor decks don’t like spending three turns to get the card they want, but there are some wrinkles to it because of the card type and the way it works. James pointed out one obvious interaction above, and in addition to that, cards like Griselbrand or the big Eldrazi are arguably broken at any kind of cost reduction. Commander decks will love it too, and not just because of their high life totals – opponents of Kaalia decks now have to metagame against not just her shenanigans, but The Creation of Avacyn’s too.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
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