Following a short delay, today marks the official beginning of spoiler season for Magic: The Gathering‘s latest set and the reveals have already begun to flow. Over the next few weeks, fans can expect a steady stream of Core 2021 card previews to come both from Wizards of the Coast as well as various influencers and pro players. As of right now, however, a certain piece of cardboard revealed by MTG Rivals League competitor Ma Noah is the current talk of the town.
Mangara, the Diplomat is a four-cost (three generic; one white) white legendary creature spell with an extremely powerful effect. Before we dive in and explore the card’s applications, though, be sure to check it out for yourselves via the gallery below.
Okay, so what makes Mangara particularly noteworthy? Well, for starters, it’s incredibly important to note the color of deck that this has been printed for. Alongside blue decks, white excels at playing the long game via control. With access to plentiful healing and strong control tools, one common strategy players use to combat white is with hyper-aggressive red decks. The latter attempts to win within the first few turns with cheap creatures and burn spells, both of which are heavily countered by Mr. Mangara here.
The more aggressive their opponent, the more beneficial and frequent Mangara’s card draw effect will be, to the extent that an aggro opponent will quickly find themselves overwhelmed and unable to compete in an already inconsistent late game. Does this one card spell doom for fast strategies? Not at all, but I think it’ll certainly prove to be an invaluable weapon for white players for the entirety of the next Standard rotation.
Magic: The Gathering Core Set 2021 is out July 3rd for tabletop and digital formats, with pre-release events scheduled to take place from June 26th.
Published: Jun 5, 2020 09:35 am