Wednesday, May 7, 2014

“Kruphix, God of Horizons: Death by Spellbook(lack of?)”


“Kruphix, God of Horizons: Death by Spellbook(lack of?)”
By:
Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Journey into Nyx has now revealed the full Pantheon of Gods from Theros and though there are some gods that certainly rate really high on peoples wish lists , there are some that at first glance seem to be destined to be forgotten somewhere. Kruphix ,God of Horizons. The Simic Combine now has a god to add into their fold but it seems like this particular god seems a very particular need .

Kruphix is an overpriced Spell book!. I mean Spellbook is already 0 to cast so yeah it is a 5 mana spellbook. So there I said it and finally got it out of my system. Then again when you consider Kruphix fulfills a specific need  in EDH , since spellbook  by its lonesome is not a card that people will play in EDH since it is not high impact enough. So you end up with Reliquary Tower as the lone card that allows you to have no maximum hand size. With the introduction of the God of Horizons however you potentially have a commander that could fulfill your spellbook needs while becoming a 4/7 Indestructible creature in the latter turns.Kinda like Spellbook only with teeth...and 4 arms.



 Blue draws an awful lot of cards and without the spellbook effect people are forced to discard cards. Since I have been playing Blue and any combination  of colors with  it , I have found that there is an abundance of cards that will be languishing in your hand and will eventually  go to waste as the turns end you need to discard.  So the God of Horizons allows you to keep them , stretching your options to an infinite sprawl rather than the finite hand that you were give.  It is still an expensive spell book but a spell book that a lot of  EDH players will be looking for.

So now that I have gotten that out of the way. I would rather talk about this particular gods second ability isn't even a great one because it turns mana that would empty from your mana pool into floating colorless mana. When you think about it , not exactly the kind of thing that you want lying around if you are a blue player because colorless mana could not be used for hard counters that actually require blue mana. However colorless mana floating around could actually mean that you can actually power out a lot of X spells like Hydras or spells like Repeal ,  Condescend or Blue sun’s Zenith that could potentially deck out your opponents.  Having all that colorless mana could also allow you to cast a lot of Artifact spells or even the Planeswalker Karn 



I can see Kruphix , God of Horizons being paired up with his/her prophet so that there would ridiculous amounts of mana. especially in EDH games. Kruphix and Prophet  of Kruphix can provide excessive amounts of mana each turn. ! Emrakul might have been a good hard cast(whenever he is not banned in the EDH format that you are in). I guess you would just need to be happy with the other Eldrazi brood.

So assuming that you are able to cast Kruphix and Prophet  of Kruphix , you have at least 5 mana(or 6 because you can’t cast them on the same turn). If you have 3 opponents , you could potentially have 6 mana each turn when you empty your mana pool on each of their end turns. The trick is to have mana ready so that you could try and threaten or bluff with a counter then when you deem that no spell they cast is worth the counter then you could tap your lands. On the next players upkeep , Prophet  of Kruphix allows you to untap , all your lands and creatures(mana producers are a plus here). So yeah by the time your own turn comes you will find yourself with 18 colorless mana at the ready. More than enough for and end of turn Emrakul or Blightsteel Colossus if you have them in your hand. (Thank you for your Yeva Flash ability Prophet!) . Just imagine how devastating that one turn will be and you could enjoy the looks on your opponents faces as it dawns on them that you could finish all of them off when your turn comes around. A well placed prosperity adds to you while it withers opponents libraries. With Kruphix you get you to keep everything  and your opponents lose everything in excess of 7 cards. A bad turn of events. A good one for you. Evil thoughts continue. 

"Yup...me in turn 7"
Kruphix might not become a tournament staple and I would not really mind. I would be more happy since the prices will be driven down. Kruphix is welcome in my EDH decks anytime.




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