By Wataru Otsuka
On January 25th, Ravnica Allegiance will be released. And in this set, we will be experiencing the Guild theme that represents white and black of Magic, Orzhov.
We have here a preview card to share to you all. A masterpiece of Orzhov. The beauty of white and black represented in Magic.
《Seraph of the Scales》 (2)(W)(B)
Creature – Angel
Flying
(White)： Seraph of the Scales gains vigilance until end of turn.
(Black)： Seraph of the Scales gains deathtouch until end of turn.
Afterlife 2 (When this creature dies, create two 1/1 white and black Spirit creature tokens with flying.)
4/3
《Seraph of the Scales》.
What a beauty…Your eyes must be caught with what catching art this has. Magali Villeneuve is the artist of this wonderful masterpiece. Magali’s recent artworks you might be familiar of is 《Vraska, Golgari Queen》, 《Jaya Ballard》 and 《Chandra, Torch of Defiance》. They are great artwork that represent the recent Standard sets. What thoughts pass by as she looks down on the city of Ravnica with a scale in her hand?
The effect this card has is another point we should carefully look at. In Standard, a problem that all flying creatures have is the presence of 《Vivien Reid》 in the Tier 1 deck, Golgari Midrange. The [-3] ability destroys the flying creature with no mercy.
《Seraph of the Scales》 is different though.
This time, we have a new mechanic for Orzhov called “Afterlife”. Even if 《Vivien Reid》’s arrow strikes our angel, their death is just a way to become a spirit to live the eternal.
What makes this card different from other normal flyers, is that 《Seraph of the Scales》 has “Afterlife 2” which can produce 2 spirit tokens. What the big difference? Even if this angel becomes shot down by 《Vivien Reid》, her loyalty becomes 2 which in our next turn, we will be able to beat her down with no difficulty.
She is not just this effect, her Activated Abilities make her able to have vigilance and deathtouch. Deathtouch clause is really useful when you meet troublesome big creatures in Standard like 《Carnage Tyrant》 or 《Doom Whisperer》.
I personally think I would want to join forces with the other Standard existing angels 《Lyra Dawnbringer》 and 《Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice》. Adding 《Seraph of the Scales》 in the Boros Angels deck making a “Mardu Angels” deck might impact the Standard metagame.
Also, to abuse the new mechanic “Afterlife”, 《Seraph of the Scales》 might be a staple in your “Afterlife” deck due to her strong abilities. In the current Standard, we have 《Hunted Witness》, 《Doomed Dissenter》, and 《Martyr of Dusk》 which has abilities to make tokens when they die. To use their full strength, having 《Demon of Catastrophes》 or 《Rite of Belzenlok》 might be fun to play with. In these kinds of decks, it must be fun to play a full playset of《Seraph of the Scales》 as well.
There are plenty of cards that go along with and if Orzhov has more cards to be revealed along the way, we might be facing a much more powerful deck. “Afterlife” may become a much strong mechanic to play with. Try out 《Seraph of the Scales》 and build the most powerful deck you can come up with!
