MTG Salvation

Interesting Hero of Bladehold variant with some political tricks, that translates in a straightforward manner to 1v1 games. A splashable 3/3 flier for 4, which makes you a 2/1 attacking flier for free on every attack. It only generates one token per attack, but makes a native 2/1 flier rather than two temporarily buffed 1/1s, and should also make one the turn it comes down.

White 4's are deep but its 4-drop creatures specifically are much less so, so may be worth a look especially for tokens or fliers.dec (e.g Moat, Serra the Benevolent) support.

I will test this over Leonin Warleader. I wish it was a 3/4 but I like being able to get more tokens is nice. It could even work in an Aristocrats deck. Curious to see this in action.

This is awesome!!

Sincerely, I prefer Hero of Bladehold over that for very little. But, I'll test this over Basri's Lieutenant in my cube.

Fun synergies against Mirror Entity or other Changeling creatures

Passes the vindicate test quite well, unlike hero. Will often have better board and damage output after 0 turns (2/1 flyer and 2 damage vs no dudes and 0 damage) and 1 turn (2 2/1 fliers and 7 damage vs 2 1/1s and 7+battle cry damage). After the 2nd attack it’s less damage but opp is likely dead in either case so not super relevant. Has a positive effect without needing to attack itself, evasive body, more easily castable. Main issue obviously being dying to bolts —- if this was a 2WW 3/4 flier it pretty easily beats hero I suspect.


Having played a lot of WW, I suspect this is a top 3 aggressive W 4 drop creature (with Jailer and Hero) and maybe 4th overall W 4 drop creature if you like what Resto does (blink, Kiki, works well with counters, etc). As far as overall W 4s go the competition is super intense. I would not be surprised if this slightly edged out AoZ in aggro, but it’s much less flexible and doesn’t help against sweepers.


Definitely going to test at least, this is quite a powerful package with relatively modest requirements.

Cool card. 3 toughness means I still prefer Hero of Bladehold, but it could be a nice addition to larger cubes.

Quote from steve_man »

It's important to note that this can generate a token the turn it ETBs as long as you have another attacker, so it's similar to Najeela in that regard.

Definitely, I already acknowledged that in the OP. Something I didn't mention though is that Calligrapher doesn't have to attack itself to get the token on subsequent turns, unlike Hero, which is super neat.

Agree the lack of 4th toughness is a big shame against burn spells.

I like Hero more because it has 4 toughness, deals more damage on an empty board, does a better job of attacking 'walkers (this only triggers when you attack the opponent, and the tokens also have to go face ...unlike Hero's), and the token/anthem interaction works better in decks designed to maximize those synergies. But the "haste" and flying are both nice upsides, so I do like this card more than Leonin Warleader. Cool card.

I like this card a lot. I have a feeling it's better than Basri's Lieutenant, but I haven't actually gotten to test any of these additions in the last year, so I'll hold off replacing it.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

I like Hero more because it has 4 toughness, deals more damage on an empty board, does a better job of attacking 'walkers (this only triggers when you attack the opponent, and the tokens also have to go face ...unlike Hero's), and the token/anthem interaction works better in decks designed to maximize those synergies. But the "haste" and flying are both nice upsides, so I do like this card more than Leonin Warleader. Cool card.

The plus is the token + itself is flying, which is huge.

The minus is its only 3 toughness, which screams Lightning Bolt

Def a solid card and prob the best tier 2 hero of bladehold variants.

I'd test at 720+

This card is super good, and I’m going to predict it plays better than Hero of Bladehold in practice, despite it having a lower ceiling in terms of raw damage. Creating evasive tokens and being evasive itself is huge, not to mention, potentially creating a token the turn it comes into play. I’m definitely including this.

Am I reading it right that this doesn't trigger if you're only attacking a planeswalker? May not matter too often but just noticed that when re-reading it.

That's correct. No trigger when attacking only 'walkers. I mentioned it as an issue in my comment above.

How have people been finding this? 4 is a lot more than 3 of course and the PW issue can be a hassle but it’s got a lot of what makes adeline great. I still find this an absolute house in terms of immediate board/tempo impact, CA (the inklings being real cards much moreso than 1/1s, and getting eaten for free by blockers much less) and an evasive very fast clock.

Card is QUITE good in our games. It's a must-answer snowballing threat and if you are playing multiplayer (50/50 for us) it's even more powerful for the politics it creates. Won't be pulling it out anytime soon.

I've found it to be almost as good as hero, which is good enough for me. Obviously it's less total damage (far less if you have a board presence with Hero), but the evasion is big game and it's easier to cast. If you want another hero variant, this is the one.