We must have been good this year, because Wizards decided to show off a new card from the upcoming Fate Reforged set. The new planeswalker card is Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Let's break this down.
At eight mana, Ugin had better pack a whollop. That's a lot of mana to be throwing down for a single spell, so we are looking for a big game impact. Ugin does not dissapoint.
He comes in with 7 loyalty counters, which makes him beefy to begin with. The first loyalty ability is +2 Ghostfire. Colorless bolt for three damage, bringing him up to 9 loyalty on the first activation. His second loyalty ability is -X and seems like it could be savage in a lot of relevant situations. Exile everything under a certain number, except for colorless stuff. His last loyalty ability is -10 and pushes all my buttons. Draw cards and free stuff!
Before we get too far into this, let me just take a moment to say that this card is flavorful and awesome. Look at the art! I have a soft spot for big colorless cards like this. The Eldrazi are ridiculously epic. Ugin lives on the same street as the legendary Eldrazi, but in a slightly smaller house. With no pool.
For eight mana Ugin's second ability is the one that we are really looking at. It's the ability that comes down and breaks the game open. The problem is that for one less mana than Ugin, you can run Karn Liberated or All is Dust.
All is Dust doesn't exile things, but it does a good job of taking care of business right then and there. It leaves behind colorless stuff, similar to Ugin. And it can't be dialed in. But more often than not when I want to sweep the board, I just want to sweep the board. No funny business.
Karn Liberated is really, really, really strong. The similarities from a design standpoint between Ugin and Karn are there. Planeswalker. Colorless. High mana cost. High loyalty count. Karn pluses to exile a card from hand. Ugin pluses to do three damage. Karn minuses to exile one permanent. Ugin minuses to exile a bunch of permanents. Karn ultimates to restart the game, potentially giving you a huge advantage. Ugin ultimates to give you a new hand, a new lease on life, and potentially a huge advantage.
The Eldrazi story line includes Ugin and Bolas, of course. Check out the artwork side by side and the mirror image of the ultimate ability on both planeswalkers. There's more to this story. I can't wait to find out what it is.
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