MagicCon: Chicago is currently underway, and we’ve already been blessed with a boatload of previews from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. This includes an intriguing Mox from the main set as well as a Dragon legend from one of the five Commander Precons.
Today, it appears another legendary Dragon from a different Precon was leaked, and it’s quite the build-around. Notably, this card has not been officially revealed. It could turn out to be fake, but it does appear to be the real deal, especially with what we’ve seen recently. Nevertheless, if you’d like to wait for a confirmed announcement, consider this your spoiler warning.
Betor, Ancestor’s Voice
This time around, we’ve got a Dragon from the Abzan Commander deck. Betor, Ancestor’s Voice is a bit of an interesting inclusion because it doesn’t directly mesh with the Defenders theme that the deck box summarizes. Nonetheless, it does further your reanimation game plan, which the deck’s description briefly references. Plus, Betor makes for a decent standalone general, even if you ignore the Defenders theme.
Betor offers two different ways to gain an advantage, the first of which is very simple. The more life you gain each turn, the more +1/+1 counters you can put on your creatures at your end step. Assuming you can connect in combat with Betor, this ability should be easy to come by.
Obviously, cards that net you a ton of life at once, such as Beacon of Immortality, become huge payoffs in conjunction with Betor. On top of that, though, any +1/+1 synergies are welcome additions. Creatures such as Kami of Whispered Hopes or Walking Ballista pair perfectly with Betor. The more +1/+1 counters you can pile on, the better.
Pain and Gain
By contrast, the second ability allows you to reanimate creatures from your graveyard with mana value less than or equal to the amount of life you lost during your turn. You will have to work a bit harder to maximize this ability, but the payoff is huge.
The goal is to add cards to your deck that, despite forcing you to lose life, provide a benefit in some other way. For instance, Greed gives you a solid source of card advantage. After just a handful of activations, you can start resurrecting Archon of Cruelty or other huge monsters with Betor in play.
Beledros Witherbloom is particularly powerful alongside Betor. It’s a solid threat to reanimate in its own right. Meanwhile, its final activated ability gives you a big burst of mana and enables you to reanimate something huge with Betor.
Being both a life gain and life loss payoff separates Betor from other typical life gain legends. We’re excited to see how this card fits into the Abzan Precon and how players work to maximize it elsewhere.
