Thanks to being a key feature of the original Lorwyn block, typal themes have returned in full force for Lorwyn Eclipsed. Whether you’re a fan of Elves, Goblins, Kithkin, or Merfolk, Lorwyn Eclipsed has tons of typal support for players to enjoy. Some new MTG cards even support multiple typal archetypes, such as Maralen, Fae Ascendant, which mashes Faerie and Elf Typal together.
MTG Maralen, Fae Ascendant
For five mana, Maralen, Fae Ascendant fuses a bunch of different fan-favorite archetypes. At its core, Maralen wants you to play a bunch of Elves and Faeries to exile and steal cards from your opponent’s deck. Better than most card-stealing effects, Maralen, Fae Ascendant can even cast the stolen spells for free once per turn.
While this effect does seem incredibly strong on paper, there are a few notable drawbacks. For starters, cards exiled with Maralen can only be cast for free using her ability. While free cards are always nice, this means you’ll get, at most, four cards per turn cycle, no matter how many cards you exile. On top of this, you’re also somewhat limited in what spells you can cast.
In order to cast anything juicy with a high mana value, you’ll need an established board full of Faeries and/or Elves. Thankfully, both of these archetypes are more than capable of churning out bodies, and tokens especially, which work with Maralen. Whether you’re using cards like Bitterblossom and Bitterblossom Bearer or Lathril, Blade of the Elves, getting relevant bodies is hardly an impossible task.
While Maralen’s split focus on two different typal archetypes does give you a lot of options, it may be better to focus on just one. At the very least, this makes generic typal support like Kindred Discovery a lot more consistent and effective. On top of this, you’d never be at risk of just drawing the wrong kind of support for what you’ve already got on board.
Realistically, while Faeries are a beloved archetype, going all in on Elf Typal does feel like the safer strategy. With plenty of fast mana and go-wide token generators, getting the most out of Maralen is easy when going in this direction. To make this decision even easier, it’s worth noting that powerful Faerie support, like Alela, Artful Provocateur, isn’t even in Maralen’s colors.
Turning Restrictions Into Power
While an Elf Typal focus does help to get around Maralen, Fae Ascendant’s key downside, there is another limiting factor. Since Maralen can only cast spells for free on the same turn she exiled them, you can’t just churn out creatures on your own turn. Thankfully, there are a fair few spells in MTG that solve this problem.
For starters, having plenty of creatures with Flash in the 99 can allow for easy card stealing. Alternatively, Vedalken Orrery and High Fae Trickster take things one step further by giving everything Flash, including the spells you steal. With Seedborn Muse on top, you can basically just play your deck on your opponent’s turns, keeping your synergistic card-stealing snowball rolling. Token generators, like Imperious Perfect are yet another way to create bodies on your opponent’s turns.
Ultimately, Maralen, Fae Ascendant may require some specific strategies to maximize, but the direction she offers is unique, very powerful, and fun to play. Sadly, Marlen’s uniqueness does come at a bit of a cost. Due to Maralen’s color identity, she’s unable to be included within the 99 of many existing Elf or Faerie Typal decks. She doesn’t really work in other Sultai thief decks either, since the typal support Maralen needs to function won’t be there.
Thankfully, there is one place that you can play Maralen if you don’t want to run her as a Commander. Maralen can be particularly compelling as a payoff in a Changeling-Typal deck. While these decks are often wacky, having them be helmed by The Ur-Dragon can make them surprisingly powerful.
At the end of the day, no matter which direction you decide to go in with Maralen, Fae Ascendant, she has plenty of potential. Don’t be surprised if you end up seeing a lot of this card once Lorwyn Eclipsed releases on January 23rd.
Stick with us at mtgrocks.com: the best place for Magic: The Gathering coverage!