It’s been a very hectic year for MTG players, and we’ve still got one more Standard set to come too, which means it’s still not over when it comes to introducing new cards. It’s hard to keep track of everything that’s been added, even if you literally write about MTG for a living.
Because of this, there are a lot of really intriguing cards that you might have missed. One of the coolest ones that I’ve only recently started messing around with properly is Laelia, the Blade Reforged. So, I thought I’d spread the good word and write about them.
Meet The Blade Reforged
First of all, take a second to appreciate how cool the title of “The Blade Reforged” is, then also take a moment to appreciate the artwork for Laelia. They’re a Spirit Warrior seemingly comprised of bits of rock and pure energy, and the weird shattered appearance is glorious.
In terms of stats, they’re a three mana Red 2/2 with haste that reads, “Whenever Laelia, the Blade Reforged attacks, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn. Whenever one or more cards are put into exile from your library and/or your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Laelia.” In essence, not only do they offer you what is effectively card draw as you attack with them, but they also get stronger whenever you exile cards from your library or graveyard, which has very much become a theme in red.
The haste helps as well, because it means they’re basically a 3/3 the turn you play them, and that’s assuming you have no other ways of either exiling cards or any other kind of buffs in play. While you can easily play them as a commander in their own right, and there’s plenty of good reasons to do so like Wild-Magic Sorcerer, you can also put them in a Spirit deck too.
Read More: The 10 Best Uncommon Commanders
Exile as a subtheme
Laelia really helps enable a subtheme of exile within a Jeskai Spirits EDH deck. The list of worthwhile thematic commanders for this isn’t ideal at the moment, so I’m currently using Kykar, Wind’s Fury as they create spirits and also offer up a sacrifice outlet, so they’ll do for now.
Jeskai allows you to have not only Laelia, but also the likes of Hofri Ghostforge, Supreme Phantom, and Drogskol Captain too. It turns out that Spirits have become an incredibly fascinating tribe as of late, and Laelia helps to focus on the exile aspects of the tribe in a really cool way.
Basically, it’s tough to keep on top of every card coming out, but there are some excellent ones out there you may well have missed. While it’s almost impossible to keep on top of the spoilers as they come out, we’re only really able to do it because we work as a team, it’s worth combing back through them once the sets are out to see if there are any cards that inspire you.
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