"Nezahal , Primal Tide: Look what came in with the Ixalan tides? "

"Nezahal , Primal Tide: Look what came in with the Ixalan tides? "

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

My friend Mark and I were speculating the other night what the Blue Elder Dinosaur would be like. I even doubted that there was one at first but since they spoiled Tetzumoc we were fairly certain that one was about to emerge from what ever primordial sea that it was in at the moment.

And we were not wrong as the powerhouse Nezahal emerged from the Icy blue waters of Ixalan and bring so much awesomeness in our lives. 

Nezahal is fairly costed at 7 mana. Not as fast as Ghalta but 7 mana is a piece of cake with ramp in EDH. And when you do cast Nezahal the blue dino cant be countered! Let me sink that in for a moment. You just cast a monster and no one can say no to it from ever existing on the battlefield! Whoa! I can just imagine the mirror match up of mirror decks.

It also expands your mind a bit by being a mobile storage of knowledge by being the creature version spellbook or a reliquary tower. I know that a lot of control players are salivating at the thought that they would be able to abuse this creature. I mean blue lets you draw and have a full hand to threaten with that hand that might be full of lands that you cannot play or counters that actually help you.

The goodness doesn't end there though as this is also the first and probably the last dinosaur to have a built in Rhystic study as what Wilbert and I were talking about earlier in the office. It is a bit better than Rhystic study in the sense that opponents no longer have the option to pay one colorless mana to prevent you from drawing your card. It they cast a non-creature spell then that is it , you just draw.

And the last thing that makes Control players happy is the resiliency of this creature. We had creatures like Pearl Lake Ancient who require to bounce lands or Batterskull that drains you of 5 mana to evade spot or mass removal. The great thing about Nezahal is that you already have the resources to aid him in his evasion , a full hand , what with having no hand size and the card advantage of drawing when opponents cast non-creature spells. 

And at times when an opponent tries to doomblade Nezahal for example you get to draw your card first and discard just two more to save it from dying. And at the end of your turn you have a tapped 7/7 that still has all the perks of it's abilities and raring to smash face on your next turn.

This card has so much value and I can see how a lot of decks would try and make space for it. Maybe even as a commander.