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How Good Is Wrenn and Realmbreaker?

As a surprise spoiler, Elspeth has gotten a glow up (literally) and turned into an Archangel! Is she as powerful as she looks, or will she not make the cut in Standard?

Hello everyone!

Yesterday we were surprised with a spoiler from a Story Spotlight with Archangel Elspeth, and today we get yet another one! Let’s take a look at Wrenn and Realmbreaker.

So we have a three mana walker with four loyalty, more loyalty than mana is always nice to have as it makes it that much tougher to kill!

Before any active abilities, we have Chromatic Lantern as a passive! Color fixing is always nice, but getting any color of mana could be really good depending on the deck.

The +1 is reminiscent of many different Nissa walkers by turning a land into a 3/3 Vigilance, Hexproof, and Haste until your next turn. Important to note though, this does not untap the land.

The -2 is an interesting blend of Grapple with the Past, Mulch, and other similar abilities where you mill three cards and you get to bring back one of those cards.

Finally, the ultimate lets you play lands and cast permanent spells from your graveyard which can be some pretty nice value over a long game.

Three interesting abilities and a solid passive, so what am I feeling?

VERDICT

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Admittedly, I’m extremely on the fence with Wrenn and Realmbreaker. At first I thought the card was very weak, my main issue being with the +1. Wrenn seems solid on turn three and even better on the play as that 3/3 body can be very relevant to attack or defend, but if the opponent has something larger, or even something the same size, it’s very awkward. Are you really looking to trade your land for a Bloodtithe Harvester or Corpse Appraiser in combat? Are you also looking to not tap out so the +1 actually does something?

However, mulling it over more, this does have solid utility as the +1 should keep it around for a decent while early in the game, and later in the game, the -2 can be quite good as you get your best card back and the opponent is forced to kill it lest you do it again. That said, three mana for extremely limited card selection and two life isn’t particularly good either.

We also have to consider the passive ability, and while it looks very strong, I believe it won’t be relevant much of the time. Ramp is infinitely more important than fixing and any deck that really wants the fixing probably doesn’t want to give up lands so easily either making it an awkward contention for what you’re prioritizing when you deploy Wrenn.

Finally, you have an ultimate which is ok, but not even that great and isn’t the easiest to get to as you may have to sacrifice lands to defend Wrenn.

Overall, I wouldn’t be shocked if Wrenn saw play and it likely will, but I think it’s a little bit weak for the three drop slot. While it does have solid utility, I think it’s a little too much work for most decks to justify.

Thank you for reading! Agree or disagree? Come join our Discord community, discuss the new spoilers, and more.

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DoggertQBones
DoggertQBones

Robert "DoggertQBones" Lee is the content manager of MTGAZone and a high ranked Arena player. He has one GP Top 8 and pioneered popular archetypes like UB 8 Shark, UB Yorion, and GW Company in Historic. Beyond Magic, his passions are writing and coaching! Join our community on
Twitch and Discord.

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