"Ripping Out a New One:Torrent Elemental"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

When you read the word torrent a couple of things instantly come to mind. You usually associate it with the word Download and then those ads in the side of the page that have girls wiggling their butts. Don't deny it. We all have seen the page.

Today's blog is not about downloads or wiggly butts. It is about a creature that hasn't seen much love as the whole Battle For Zendikar Craziness has fallen on all of us. I was browsing through the cards of Fate Reforged and came upon Torrent Elemental.

All I could think of is that this Mythic Rare Elemental is angry and that it should be in Black or Red somehow but it manages to be a Sultai hybrid of sorts and its main color is blue. It also is probably angry because it seems no one wants to field it on their EDH teams. Well I want to play with you Torrent Elemental and I am sure that you will be an asset.

Now checking on the stats of this creature. 3/5 for 5 mana is pretty good in the EDH setting. I can even say that this guy given the right chance can win the whole table for you. I mean it can attack for 3 damage each turn , that is easy. The only other thing you need is an army on your side of the board. You see Torrent Elemental has an activated ability that allows you to tap all creatures that a defending player controls. All of them. Imagine no Indestructible or Hexproof creatures ruining your plan of attack.

Think about it. Torrent Elemental + Blightsteel Colossus. The Colossus is basically unblockable and hits for 11  points of Infect! Good Game Sir! Hand shakes all around! And then you observe your opponents silently boarding in a lot of spot removal.

Speaking of Removal Torrent Elemental is one of those pesky critters that won't quit on you even if it is exiled. Check out its second ability. You could pay 3 colorless mana and any combination of Black/Green mana to put Torrent Elemental back on the battlefield Tapped. The catch is that you could only do this any time you could cast a sorcery. So you basically pass a turn of attacking and hope that your opponents wont be able to deal with our angry elemental here. Even if they could exile him again this is still to your advantage since this is a creature that does not come from your hand or your library. It actually comes from the exile zone and for a measly 5 mana could come back to lead your next attack.

It makes me wonder though....if the Torrent Elemental has a really strong gustiness to it then why isn't he affecting your creatures too? My guess is that he is aiming all that wind towards the opposing side so that all those creatures become unable to resist your next attack. They become blinded or simply just fall to the ground. 

Either way without any defenders expect the Torrent Elemental to lead a Rout. Speaking of Rout you better hope that your opponent doesn't have one in hand or it is going to be a bad turn of events.

So there you go. Much love for this Mythic Rare that isn't getting some lately. Have you already thought of a way to abuse this card? Ready to go Sultai aggrro? Leave me a comment below and thanks for reading.