MTG Salvation

Anafenza, Spirit of the Family Tree
WW
Legendary Creature - Spirit Soldier
Whenever another nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, bolster 1. (Choose a creature with the least toughness among creatures you control and put a +1/+1 counter on it.)
2/2

[posted on MythicSpoiler. I made a mockup and attached it. ]
I think I like it, WW cost is a bit awkward but I think that's not the biggest hurdle.
Thoughts?

It's an okay creature, but there are a lot of good white 2-drops without dipping into the WW territory.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

It's an okay creature, but there are a lot of good white 2-drops without dipping into the WW territory.

That's my biggest problem with it, plus its not a human. The effect is decent.

I guess I am greedy but for Legendary, not human, and WW I would have loved to see an add on ;like "All creatures you control with a +1/+1 counter have first strike" or some such.

For WW, I want a really great effect. This is good, but not great, and I think I'll pass.

If this were a 2/1 human with the (otherwise) same text for 1W, I'd be interested.

plains, mox pearl, Black lotus, anafenza, 1 drop , 1 drop, 1 drop

Go!

Poor top deck, but can generate a lot of value for a two drop in the right deck.
Unfortunately it promotes over-extension and requires lots of other creatures to be good.
Might try it out, but don't expect her to last.

Edit:
Just realized she goes infinite with sac outlet + kitchen finks/murderous redcap, ala melira. Some consideration for playing her...

I would have cubed her if she would have cost 1W. A WW card on the other hand has to be really, really powerful to make it into my cube, because that cost is such a huge drawback for decks that want to curve out. She needed first strike or flying in addition to her current ability to make that WW cost worth it.

The effect is interesting, but the cost ruins her for me. Pass.

I think it's just slightly lacking that little edge to push it into cubeability; costing 1W (maybe even as a 2/1), triggering off herself, a better creature type and/or relevant ability like Vigilance, Flying or First Strike... close but no cigar.

As a 1W creature (even if it was a 2/1) or if it had First Strike (or both!) would've been the tipping point for me. I think I can safely pass.

Another hit against this is that it does not trigger off tokens.
Ultimately, it is the WW that hurts this a lot and the reason why I will not include this.

Hate to be cliche, but WW, RR, BB, GG, UU cards in general have to be very very good.

Otherwise they tend to have a short shell life in Cube. Anafenza, sad to say, is in the latter category.

I'll be testing her. I still have Sigiled Paladin in, so I'll cut him for her. Just playing a 3-drop on curve turns her into a 3/3 or buffs the other thing, I think she'll provide enough pressure to eat a decent removal spell. Decent in a deck that wants to curve out, and of course a flicker deck.

This has been the biggest surprise for me. As I said in the Sidisi thread, I was able to get two cube sessions going last Friday and this was in one of the pools. The player that drafted her was very high on her, and said that if he even got one activation out of her, he was happy. When he was able to catch his opponent w/o a removal spell, her ability allowed the board state to spiral out of control for his opponent, applying heavy pressure with minimal investment. I will be keeping her in for the foreseeable future, and like that it rewards heavier white aggro decks.

I added her recently, unfortunately she never saw my last draft but I am pretty high on her in an aggressive build. Making your later game 2/1 one drop draws better isn't too bad. She was mainly added as my 2 drop white section was pretty weak, she may not stay but until I get something better, I like it. We'll see how she tests anyway. Going one drop, Anafenza attack for 3, three drop, attack for 5 on turn 3 isn't the worst? Especially if you are dropping Brimaz or something on three. I originally played no double mana two drops but am starting to add one or two back in for the people that end up heavy white etc. Again, this may not be the card to makes people want to go mono white but I am happy knowing she is sleeved up and sitting in a box.

Quote from Ace_Stevo »

one drop, Anafenza attack for 3

Not really, Anafenza reads "... another nontoken creature..." - she won't buff your 1-drop. That's one minor annoyance, but then it's also nontoken, and she costs WW... I don't know, I'm not convinced and I won't be testing her, but I will consider her if she starts getting many positive reviews.

Ah yes, sorry, good call Mrbrightside.

This thing seems pretty insane in WW. I want very badly to pair this with Kitchen Finks. I'll be swapping out Precinct Captain (who is decent but not great). My only other WW card is Leonin Relic-Warder, so I'm OK with the cost.

For those running her, how has Anafenza been for you? How does she compare to the other white 2-drops?

These attached pictures are 3-0 decks with Anafenza, since it was spoiled (I resized it in paint on the 3/10 picture as the set wasn't on MTGO, so it looks not the best.) I captured the decks using MTGO as my camera is awful.

Regarding the card itself, I've been a big fan (and others who I've recommended her to have as well) as I wrote in my set review, and my opinion on how good she's been has remained unchanged (if anything, it's been bolstered.) She typically gives a good amount of boost for her cost and I've found it's not uncommon for her to get at least 2 triggers and if she dies on removal, she's a 2-drop and honestly, that's fine for a worst-case scenario.

It sucks that it's a nombo with tokens, a big component of white strategies, but it's very good even with that taken into account. She's a creature that I'm very happy to have in my white aggro decks (the UW deck wasn't an aggro deck and neither was the GW deck but she seemed to have worked there as well) and I think I'd rate her pretty highly in the suite of white 2s.

This is based on limited data (so take it for what it's worth), but so far I like her a lot more than Precinct Captain. She's usually bolstering herself or your one drop (if it's still alive) on turn 3. In a more midrange deck, you'll often get the option of bolstering your utility 3 drop or her, which can work out nicely if you need your utility guy to be tad more resilient.

She reminds me a bit of Champion of the Parish in that she needs a little time on the board to really get a lot of value out of. So if you are running a ton of removal, she might not have enough immediate presence to justify a spot.

Any +1/+1 synergy you may be running I think adds more value to her, as does a strong blink theme. Free +1/+1 counters are pretty good in the right deck (persist synergy already mentioned - haven't seen the Kitchen Finks combo yet but it will absolutely happen at some point).

Quote from Usman »

Regarding the card itself, I've been a big fan (and others who I've recommended her to have as well) as I wrote in my set review, and my opinion on how good she's been has remained unchanged (if anything, it's been bolstered.) She typically gives a good amount of boost for her cost and I've found it's not uncommon for her to get at least 2 triggers and if she dies on removal, she's a 2-drop and honestly, that's fine for a worst-case scenario.

It sucks that it's a nombo with tokens, a big component of white strategies, but it's very good even with that taken into account. She's a creature that I'm very happy to have in my white aggro decks (the UW deck wasn't an aggro deck and neither was the GW deck but she seemed to have worked there as well) and I think I'd rate her pretty highly in the suite of white 2s.

Yeah I was going through my list and it really is too bad she doesn't work with tokens - without even looking at the other colours, I can see so many potential token interactions in white. She still does look good though, pumping aggro creatures to help trade with bigger midrange beaters and speeding up the clock when you're the aggressor. I'd certainly be happy if I can get 2 activations off her on average. I mean, anything beyond that sounds like Value City to me.

Thanks for showing the successful decklists too. Decks 1, 2, 4 and 5 look a lot like decks that I see here and I coulda sworn I saw a deck like #1 3-0 fairly recently. That's an awesome idea keeping track of winning decklists -- I'm going to start doing this too (maybe even tracking the 0-3 ones as well).

I'm on board with Anafenza and I'll give her a go on my next update. Having one WW duder shouldn't be a problem at all. I foresee good things -- Thanks!

Quote from ahadabans »

Any +1/+1 synergy you may be running I think adds more value to her, as does a strong blink theme. Free +1/+1 counters are pretty good in the right deck (persist synergy already mentioned - haven't seen the Kitchen Finks combo yet but it will absolutely happen at some point).

Yup we have a pretty good blink theme.

Edit: I don't know how much interactions I can get w/ Kitchen Finks. Not a whole lot of sac outlets, but I guess it is nice to have!

Quote from hardb0dy »

Thanks for showing the successful decklists too. Decks 1, 2, 4 and 5 look a lot like decks that I see here and I coulda sworn I saw a deck like #1 3-0 fairly recently. That's an awesome idea keeping track of winning decklists -- I'm going to start doing this too (maybe even tracking the 0-3 ones as well).

I'm on board with Anafenza and I'll give her a go on my next update. Having one WW duder shouldn't be a problem at all. I foresee good things -- Thanks!

I've been doing pictures of the 3-0s since they're a nice quick visual for which decks are going 3-0, and record overall deck/card stats, but I haven't taken pictures of the non 3-0 decks. I probably should.

Glad to hear you're gonna try Anafenza, let us know how she works out for you.

In our (albeit limited) testing, she was decent, but not worth the WW cost. She absolutely has to come down on T2, so the casting cost was a problem. The nontoken clause was a bummer, and the another creature clause was a bummer. If she allowed tokens to trigger the ability, gave a counter herself, had an ability that kept her out of harm's way in combat (flying, first strike, etc) OR had a 1W cost, I think she'd be good enough. But as is, we decided to pass on her as a group, and defaulted to the evasive WW Soltari guys instead. They were better when drawn late (or cast slightly behind curve), had protection against relevant removal spells, and their evasion represented about as much additional damage as her bolstering did; perhaps even more given their kinship with equipment. They're not as interesting, but they were ultimately better.

Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit was discussed here in the Random Cube Card of the Day thread.