Vraska, Swarm's Eminence - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence is an uncommon green and black planeswalker card from War of the Spark. This four-mana planeswalker has a hybrid mana cost, meaning you can pay either green or black mana to cast her. This Vraska planeswalker shares Standard with another four-mana Vraska card from Ravnica Allegiance: Vraska, Golgari Queen. So, where does this Vraska fit in?


Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence Helps You Build a Deathtouch Tribal Deck

Like all of the uncommon War of the Spark planeswalkers, Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence has two abilities, one static ability and one loyalty ability. Her static ability is rather interesting: “Whenever a creature you control with deathtouch deals damage to a player or planeswalker, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.” There’s only a few good creatures with deathtouch currently in Standard. But, there are some possibilities.

Death Baron, for example, gives other Skeletons and Zombies you control deathtouch. So, Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence could work in a Zombie tribal deck. Dire Fleet Poisoner can give Pirates you control Deathtouch. Other playable creatures with deathtouch include Dire Fleet Ravager, Isareth the Awakener, Pestilent Spirit, and Tetzimoc, Primal Death. There’s also the split instant card Status / Statue which would be fairly playable in a deck with Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence.


Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence Makes Planeswalker Assassin Tokens!


The particularly fun aspect of Vraska, Swam’s Eminence is the tokens that she creates. For minus-two loyalty, she creates a 1/1 black Assassin creature token with deathtouch. Those tokens also have the ability that whenever they deal damage to a planeswalker, destroy that planeswalker. Those tokens have perfect synergy with Swarm’s Eminence’s other ability, so they can get bigger quickly.



Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence in EDH / Commander


Many Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons Snake Tribal Commander players added Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence to their EDH decks. Damia, Sage of Stone Deathtouch Tribal EDH decks can make use of Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence, too. While this Vraska planeswalker does need to fill a particular niche in EDH, she finds more than a few homes in Commander decks.




Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence in Standard


At the very least, Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence could be Standard-playable as a sideboard card against planeswalker-heavy strategies. Because of her hybrid mana cost, she can be played in decks that feature either green or black mana, and not just both. Red/black (Rakdos) and Blue/black (Dimir) decks can play her, as well as Red/Green (Gruul) and White/Green (Selesnya) decks. She’s a bit too niche for Modern and other Eternal competitive formats.


Being only an uncommon, Magic the Gathering players are happy to add a playset of this Vraska planeswalker to their collections. While Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence may not be a super important card outside of a Planeswalker-heavy Standard metagame, she is a well-designed and flavorful planeswalker just like all those we have seen in War of the Spark.


How would you play Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence?

Read more War of the Spark card reviews here!

Emergence Zone - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

Emergence Zone is an uncommon nonbasic land from Magic the Gathering's War of the Spark. This colorless land is in the vein of Alchemist’s Refuge and Winding Canyons. Not only does it provide one colorless mana by tapping it, but it also has a sacrifice ability for a single mana to give all spells you cast flash until end of turn.That means everything in your hand can be played at instant speed. While Alchemist’s Refuge and Winding Canyons didn’t require you sacrifice them, there are a few things about Emergence Zone that make it a particularly fascinating card across many different competitive Magic the Gathering formats.


While needing to sacrifice Emergence Zone does present a drawback, the ability only costs a single colorless mana for any type of spell you cast. Because you are sacrificing a land, though, sacrificing Emergence Zone essentially costs you two mana and not just one. It’s a fair price for the ability, though, and because you can play it in any deck, Emergence Zone can fit into many different deck strategies.


It has already been suggested that Emergence Zone will see a lot of play in decks that can retrieve it or recur it from the graveyard. Without a doubt, Emergence Zone becomes a lot more powerful with something like Crucible of Worlds in play (which actually is in Standard at the time of War of the Spark’s release).Being able to play it from the graveyard is a crazy powerful play, as it doesn’t even come into play tapped.



Emergence Zone in EDH / Commander


The most obvious place for Emergence Zone to see play is in EDH, as many Commanders already enjoy having access to flash through lands like Alchemist’s Refuge and Winding Canyons. Alchemist’s Refuge, though, requires Blue and Green mana to activate. While the Refuge does not require the sacrifice, it can only be played in decks with Blue and Green mana. Winding Canyons only requires two colorless mana to activate its ability, but only gives flash to creature spells.




Emergence Zone in Modern Colorless Eldrazi


There has already been speculation that Emergence Zone may be played in some Eldrazi decks in Modern. It provides the required colorless mana for some of the Colorless Eldrazi deck’s best creatures like Matter Reshaper, Thought-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, and Endbringer. But, it also gives you the ability to flash in your creatures, something that is relevant with Eldrazi Mimic already in play. The Mimic can copy the power and toughness of any colorless creature that enters the battlefield on your side. That makes for a neat combat trick. Flash is also relevant for flashing in the deck’s other spells like Basilisk Collar. Ghostfire Blade, and Ratchet Bomb. It’s particularly cute with Ratchet Bomb, because Flash allows you to tick it up with an additional charge counter.


Emergence Zone in Standard


Probably the most interesting use for Emergence Zone in the Standard format it enters is a deck heavy on planeswalkers. Sure, planeswalkers have been played at instant speed in EDH before thanks to a wide variety of Flash enablers like Alchemist’s Refuge, Leyline of Anticipation, and Vedalken Orrery. But, with War of the Spark planeswalkers having static abilities besides just loyalty abilities, suddenly giving them the ability to have flash becomes a lot more important. It could be argued that Emergence Zone is going to be a key card in some sort of Planeswalker Control deck. We shall see how this land’s use develops as War of the Spark is released.
How would you use Emergence Zone?

Atarka's Command - A Modern Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

When it first released, there was some debate among Magic players as to how good Atarka's Command really is. Some weren't even sure it belongs in a constructed main deck. But, for a card that's at worst Skullcrack plus options for just two mana (Red and Green), Atarka's Command proved to be a very playable card.


The first two modes pretty much equal a Skullcrack since the Command cycle allows you to choose two of the four modes. Losing the damage prevention restriction from Skullcrack and adding the ability to hit each opponent isn't a big deal. The each opponent addition does seem odd, as this isn't a card you'd expect to be good in a multi-player format. But, it’s there all the same.


How about the other two modes? The ability to play a land card straight to the field is an interesting option, and it probably will be the most rarely used. Still, don't rule out using it, especially as that land can come in untapped. The last mode may easily be the best: giving creatures you control +1/+1 plus reach until the end of turn. Reach is actually pretty good since Red/Green does have problems with flyers. Of course, that means using this card defensively in decks that want to focus on being constantly on the offensive.



Atarka's Command in Standard


The obvious home for Atarka's Command was Gruul Aggro, an aggressive deck featuring the Green mana mostly just to play the Command. Another deck that spawned using the card was Atarka Red, which played another powerful Green card called Become Immense. Not only was Atarka's Command good in Standard, it was good enough for existing Red decks to add Green mana just to play it. The two decks eventually merged into Gruul Deck Wins, a strong deck in Standard that eventually just became known as Atarka Red.


There were already enough incidental life gain effects in Magic at the time that a card like Atarka's Command became a solid tempo card. Creatures with lifelink and cards with life gain effects like Siege Rhino being neutralized was a nice boon for aggro decks. The sheer versatility of the card, as well as the extra land drop at instant speed, made it an instant hit in the red/green decks that wanted to play hard and fast.


Atarka's Command in Modern


In Modern, Atarka's Command found homes in the popular Naya Blitz deck as well as Bushwhacker Zoo. It was particularly good in these Red/Green/X decks due to the presence of Burning-Tree Emissary, which adds a Red mana and a Green mana to your mana pool when it enters the battlefield. It would also find its way into Red Deck Wins variants and Burn decks that splashed Green just for the Command and the sideboard card Destructive Revelry.


Well into 2019, Atarka's Command still sees play at four main deck copies in Modern in upgraded versions of decks like Atarka Zoo and Bushwhacker Zoo. Most recently, Atarka's Command has made its way into the sideboard of Modern Goblins. These Goblin decks now run Green mana because of a new Legendary Goblin Grumgully, the Generous, who is Red and Green.



Atarka's Command in Pioneer


With the announcement of the Pioneer format - which begins with the Return to Ravnica set - many cards like Atarka's Command that were powerful Standard cards in the past are getting another look. As this is a card currently seeing Modern play, it's no doubt that we'll see this versatile instant see play in a format alongside cards that it has seen success beside, such as Burning-Tree Emissary and Reckless Bushwhacker.


Without a doubt, Atarka's Command is one of the more versatile two-mana instants out there. It's both good for tempo and burn. This is a card every Magic the Gathering player should try to have in their collections.