World Breaker costs seven mana. Turns out that helps to make it pretty cool.

Let us consider two different (rumored) Eldrazi giants from the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Oath of the Gatewatch.

One is the aforementioned World Breaker. As a seven drop, World Breaker can trigger the hot new tool Kozilek’s Return…

… And it does all kinds of other stuff at the same time.

World Breaker generates card advantage the turn it comes into play. It is a kind of a Creeping Mold. Imagine, for instance, the advantage you would have playing the first World Breaker in an Eldrazi mirror match! Decks with an excess of lands can find World Breaker after World Breaker (and Eldrazi decks will often have an overabundance of lands in play). And the Reach even means something! Eldrazi players might find themselves beaten up by Mantis Riders or Thunderbreak Regents early on… World Breaker can help defend against those opponents.

On the other end of the spectrum is Endbringer:

Endbringer certainly seems awesome.

“Endbringer is of the school of Clockwork Beast.”
-Patrick

If it lives for several turns you can certainly accumulate a nice amount of card advantage.

But!

Endbringer is a card with no evasion, no inherent protection, and doesn’t generate card advantage the turn it comes into play. Certainly it can generate card advantage over time… But it asks for a lot of room before you can get there.

Worst yet, Endbringer is exactly the size to be killed by Roast 🙁

Michael and Patrick debate the finer points of World Breaker and Endbringer; love on Kozilek’s Return, and speculate generally on Oath of the Gatewatch’s rumored upcoming tools in “World Breaker is Hot; Endbringer is Not”.

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Chandra, Flamecaller is a rumored new Planeswalker from Oath of the Gatewatch.

“What scenario is this card NOT good?”
-Patrick Chapin

There is already precedent for a six mana Planeswalker with the ability to sweep the board (and stick around) in Elspeth, Sun’s Champion (Patrick even won a Pro Tour using that Planeswalker); Chandra fits that minimum bill.

Let’s look at Chandra’s abilities… Backwards:

[-x] At her absolute worst, Chandra’s [-x] ability is a “Savage Twister” for four damage at 4RR… Which combined with any amount of versatility at least gets her in the conversation. If you have four toughness creatures and can just “Slagstorm” leaving Chandra, Flamecaller on the battlefield that can help create a massive advantage on the board.

[0] Chandra’s “zero” ability is just card advantage. If you have no cards in hand, this [0] gives you a net one card… And if you have any number of cards in hand, the ability becomes extraordinarily powerful. Once you have any number of cards in hand you can start to fuel Delve spells like Murderous Cut, set up creatures like Deathmist Raptor and Den Protector, or enable completely new (or rather, rediscovered) color combinations in Standard.

[+1] Mike initially thought this was the least interesting ability, but Patrick predicts that the “attack for six with haste” ability is the money ability on Chandra, Flamecaller. We were already (probably) happy to play Chandra for her sweep and card advantage abilities… But she can quickly close out a game, too!

Patrick and Michael believe that Chandra, Flamecaller will be an exciting and highly played new Planeswalker via Oath of the Gatewatch… But take a good (and pretty entertaining and analytical) hour to get there.

The cool thing about Chandra is that she is such a powerful card that we will see her both incorporated in existing archetypes and as the centerpiece of all new decks! Find out which in “Chandra, Flamecaller Analysis”.

Top Level Podcast also jams on Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

“This card is bananas. This card is going to rupture my heart.”
-Patrick Chapin

You might be surprised as to what cards Patrick compares this one to…

… Or what weird angle (and what abilities) Mike concentrates on with his initial analysis.

All this and many new deck-inclusion, brewing, and crafting ideas in “Chandra, Flamecaller Analysis”

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