All right, so, let’s get the business part of this preview article out of the way. Here’s the card:

How do we bother going about looking at a card like this? How do we divine the strengths and weaknesses of a card we’ve never seen? The simplest thing is to compare it to an existing card if such a comparison is useful. This is best when the two cards you are comparing are similar in nature. Luckily, Emancipation Angel is an example of this sort of card. The most similar card we have is Zendikar’s Kor Skyfisher.

As far as the two cards are concerned, Emancipation Angel costs an additional while having an additional point of power. Is this worth it? I think, for the most part, it is, making this card a better version of our Zendikar-block predecessor. Let’s do some cost-to-benefit analysis.

2/3 Versus 3/3

Obviously, a 3/3 body is better than a 2/3 body, but the question is: How much better?

This becomes even more relevant in Limited due to then nature of Limited flyers. 2-power flyers are very common in Limited in the 2- to 4-mana range. The fact that Emancipation Angel is a 3-power flyer in that range gives it a substantial advantage when it comes to combat—mainly racing. The fact that it can put a serious hurting on the opponent while he musters up enough flyers to defend against it is very important.

Think about it this way: If you get in with your 2-power flyer twice before your opponent shuts it down, you’ve dealt 4 damage, which is nice. If Emancipation Angel gets in twice before it’s shut down, it’s dealt 6 damage, which is effectively an extra hit from a 2-power flyer. The fact that the card hits relatively hard for being such an early, evasive creature is one of the greatest strengths of the card. This should keep it a relatively high pick in Avacyn Restored Draft and make it a very good card for Sealed.

Versus

This cost comparison is an interesting point—there are definitely benefits to Emancipation Angel being more expensive. The main benefit is that it’s less taxing to cast on curve. Consider that if you cast Kor Skyfisher on curve, you were effectively giving up your third land drop. While this wasn’t the worst thing ever, it is a definite cost, and setting your entire curve back a turn could definitely hurt you.

Just as an example, one of the most efficient 3-drop threats in Standard right now is Geist of Saint Traft. By itself, Geist takes three swings to deal 18 damage and four swings to deal 24. If you go up to 4 mana, you have Hero of Bladehold, which, unopposed, deals 18 damage in two swings and 33 in three. Now, compare that to Grave Titan, which deals 24 damage in two swings and 32 damage in three. From this you can see that the killing efficiency of Hero of Bladehold is closer to that of Grave Titan than that of Geist.

The basic principle here is that the later you push that development hiccup, the less of an effect it has on your overall threat progression; being behind a land drop on turn six matters much less than it does on turn three. This is where Emancipation Angel’s advantage lies in its cost.

The disadvantage comes in the midgame, when you are attempting to use Emancipation Angel to recur a creature with an enters-the-battlefield effect. Due to the fact that you are paying an extra mana for the bounce ability of Emancipation Angel (when compared to Skyfisher), the net cost to recur that effect becomes greater, making the task more difficult. I do think, however, that this is more than offset by the fact that Emancipation Angel is far better on curve than Kor Skyfisher. After all, when playing Zendikar Limited, the thing I returned the most often with Kor Skyfisher was land. While this was sometimes because of landfall, it was most often because there really wasn’t any real reason to return a threat.

Glancing at Limited

Limited is where I feel Emancipation Angel is really going to shine. The 3/3 body is good-sized for a flyer—2/2, 2/3, and 2/1 are very common power-and-toughness profiles for flyers at common and uncommon. Sure, Emancipation Angel won’t be able to tangle with the Avacyns of the world, but it doesn’t need to. What it will need to do is be able to beat up on the 1/1 Spirits, Voiceless Spirits, and Chapel Geists of the world (although the latter two won’t be in the same format). This it will do very well.

I also expect the token-generation theme of Innistrad and Dark Ascension to be continued in Avacyn Restored. This further mitigates the cost of returning a permanent with Emancipation Angel—upgrading a 1/1 Human or 1/1 Spirit is something well worth doing. Between the token generation and returning a land, I feel that Emancipation Angel will be a really good card . . . even if you don’t have any good enters-the-battlefield effects to recur with it.

Glancing at Constructed

• Enters-the-battlefield effects are not that prevalent in Constructed right now. Most of the really good creatures have static effects or triggered abilities or are just hyper efficient
• Bouncing tokens isn’t that great either—the primary token-generator of Standard, Lingering Souls, shares a curve slot with Emancipation Angel.
• There is very little reason to bounce lands in the current format. Kor Skyfisher was definitely helped in Constructed by the presence of the landfall mechanic.

I do think that the first of these three will change a bit with Avacyn Restored due to the nature of cards already spoiled. The fact that white already has the Flicker effects leads me to believe enters-the-battlefield effects (like soulbond) will be a much bigger part of Avacyn Restored than Innistrad and Dark Ascension. Whether that leads to Emancipation Angel being more playable remains to be seen.

Looking at Soulbond and Undying

The two most interesting interactions with Emancipation Angel are soulbond and undying. I think both of these will be more prevalent in Limited than in Constructed, but nonetheless, it’s necessary to discuss.

As an enters-the-battlefield ability, soulbond is naturally suited to interact well with Emancipation Angel. I think this interaction will be much stronger in Limited due to the ability of players to prioritize saving the creature with the soulbond ability. By using your combat tricks on that creature or simply holding it out of combat, you can increase your likelihood of repairing when the other half of the pair inevitably bites the dust. Emancipation Angel—alongside the various Flicker effects—will help you do this.

Undying falls on the other end of the spectrum with Emancipation Angel. Rebuying a creature with undying effectively downgrades it, but it gives it another life—so to speak. This could undoubtedly be valuable in the creature-attrition wars frequently present in Limited. Undying creatures tend to be very powerful, and resetting one for 3 mana is an effect that will often be worth it.

As far as Constructed is concerned, Strangleroot Geist has proven itself to be a major player in this format. Emancipation Angel fits well alongside it as a way of gaining “Geist advantage”. Because the 2/1 Geist trades with the 3/2 Geist, downgrading has less of a disadvantage in fights between Strangleroot Geists, but the ability to stick around afterward is still very important.

I think Strangleroot Geist (and potentially Vorapede) are really the only two undying creatures from Dark Ascension that are relevant to Emancipation Angel’s chances in Constructed. Avacyn Restored will no doubt bring some more, but I’m unsure whether they will be enough. No doubt that if Emancipation Angel makes it to the top tables of the Pro Tour, it will probably be alongside an undying (probably Geist) or soulbond creature.

Conclusion

Overall, Emancipation Angel appears to be a very strong Limited card with potential Constructed applications. I would be very happy to see this in my Sealed pool or Draft pack. As far as playing it in Constructed is concerned, it is a card that opens up a lot in the way of synergy—especially with the existing block mechanics—and thus can’t be ignored. However, I feel that the general lack of strong enters-the-battlefield creatures in this format (outside of Titans, who don’t need to be replayed to be effective) will end up hurting this creature quite a bit.

I feel that Emancipation Angel is an excellent card for the format, and I am very excited to see what the future has in store for this little Angel.

It doesn’t hurt that the art is absolutely awesome either.

Chingsung Chang

Conelead most everywhere and on MTGO

Khan32k5 at gmail dot com