Hello, and welcome back to Resource Mana- wait, hold on. This isn’t one of the articles in my series! What on earth spurred this? I thought we were looking at mana this week!

… what’s that? They’ve printed a new Vraska? Say no more!

For those who’ve avoided the misfortune of my endless ‘Rock’ decklists, you may not know that I have a bit of a penchant for the murky, dark and overgrown colour pair that makes up the Golgari swarm. You get all of the card draw, removal and discard in black combined with the efficiency and power of green threats. To top it off, both colours also keep a close eye on the graveyard – when something dies in BG, you can be sure it’s coming back.

When Ixalan was first previewed some months, a lot of players were excited. Pirates! Dinosaurs! An exciting new world focused on adventure, treasure, and the perilous journeys those on the plane take to find both. These things are definitely cool; I’m as big a fan of Johnny Depp astride The Last Dinosaur as anyone; but they were overshadowed by the return of the deadly assassin, Vraska. Standard BG would have it’s first Planeswalker since Return to Ravnica (sorry Garruk, but you don’t count)!

Old Vraska was flashy. Her toxicity keeps creatures away, she rots other Planeswalkers to the bone without breaking a sweat, and her easily achievable ultimate creates three creatures with effectively infinite power. What’s more, those creatures are Assassins. Dino–Pirates notwithstanding, that’s in the running for the sweetest creature type to ever see print. Quite a suite of abilities!

Now I could gush all day about the warm, writhing and wriggling goodness that is Vraska and BG, but I do have a card to preview. Can new Vraska match up to the old one?

In a word – kinda?

Vraska, Relic Seeker is certainly not as flash as her previous incarnation. She can destroy permanents, but apparently her bloodlust for Planeswalkers has been dimmed somewhat. She makes creatures, and while they are Pirates – again, pretty high on the sweet-o-meter – their power is a bit shy of insta-lethal. Lastly, her big, game-ending ability is pretty unique and enjoyably flavourful, but it’s not quite the spice I was expecting. Still, her mix of stats and abilities are pretty powerful, so let’s break her down!

Mana Cost

Six is not cheap. At six mana, I expect my Planeswalkers to pretty much end the game on the spot, or pull me back from more or less any position if behind. As demonstrated by Chandra, Flamecaller and Elspeth, Sun’s Champion.

That said, Sorin, Grim Nemesis wasn’t a spectacular play when behind, and he saw plenty of time in the Standard sun (pardon the pun)! Alongside Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Ob Nixilis Reignited and a boatload of removal, Sorin ended plenty of games.

Vraska is remarkably similar to Sorin. While behind, she immediately gets rid of the biggest threat on the board, and even provides a little mana payback for doing so. Tapping out for Vraska, killing your opponents’ bomb, then immediately sacrificing the Treasure to cast a Fatal Push on your opponent’s second biggest baddie is a pretty swingy turn!

Viewing Vraska as a finisher, the sixth mana makes a lot of sense. She’ll help when behind, she’ll break parity, and she’ll begin burying the opponent in evasive creatures when ahead. Sounds about right to me!

Loyalty

Six starting loyalty is a lot, and eight after creating a swashbuckling token is a lot a lot. At eight loyalty, Vraska can take a blast of flame and claws from Glorybringer, and still have enough fight to turn that Dragon into a companion piece for Atarka’s Monument and remain standing.

Six also allows two successive downticks before Vraska wanders off the battlefield to the aid of some other Golgari mage. While I can’t imagine too many board states in which killing their best thing two turns in a row is better than upticking when you untap with her, the flexibility is certainly appreciated.

Finally, Vraska reaches her ultimate alarmingly quickly. Uncontested, Vraska creates two evasive creatures and then makes them both lethal across two untap steps. As must answer threats go, she certainly delivers!

Abilities

When viewing a new Planeswalker, the easiest way to tell if it’s likely to be good is by asking three questions. Does it protect itself? Does it draw cards? And does it win the game by itself if unchecked?

In order, yes, yes and yes. Vraska can defend herself both by recruiting patrons of the Black Pearl and petrifying any non-Planeswalker that deigns to show it’s face. While 2/2 creatures aren’t all that impactful on turn six and beyond, free 2/2 buccaneers definitely count as drawing some proportion of a card every turn. Lastly, Vraska does a pretty good job of turning your opponent a pale shade of green after just a few turns in play, chopping their life total down to a pretty precarious one.

Vraska, Relic Seeker may not be the new Gideon of Standard, but her combination of stats and abilities are not to be trifled with. I look forward to testing various brews in the coming days, but how about a draft list to get you started?

GB Midrange

Thanks for reading. As always, leave any questions or ideas in the comments below. Good luck!