Torrent Sculptor has what appears to be the new idea for a keyword protective ability: ward, which counters attempts to target it and helps to provide some shielding against kill spells and annoying abilities. It’s not as though there aren’t other ways to put cards in your graveyard, or as though there aren’t other reasons to play lots of instants and sorceries, but using one to set up the other is pleasingly symmetrical. Flamethrower Sonata is well-used when setting up a future Torrent Sculptor, though each face is definitely playable without the other.

It’s interesting that many of Strixhaven‘s double-sided cards play well with their other side. Since the Sculptor lacks an evasive ability, opponents do have a range of options for dealing with him, but you might be forcing their hand. On Torrent Sculptor, it creates a creature that presents a major threat to an opponent: the Sculptor could well be coming in as a 6/6 or higher for four mana, depending on what else is in your deck. It provides a downside to removal spells that can prove telling but is not complete, and which can be both built around by the controller and played around by the opponent. As such, the ward keyword is my favorite new thing of late. I know that tournament strategies are all about doing unfair things, but I personally don’t find that as much fun as a matchup decided by the choices made by people playing evenly matched decks. As I was talking about yesterday, I love fair cards.

Yugioh season 0 torrent