"Sage of the Skies: Explosive Limited Bomb"

"Sage of the Skies: Explosive Limited Bomb" 

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I think that I was lucky not facing any deck with Sage of the Skies in my last Tarkir: Dragonstorm Pre release event. While I also do not play any standard and have no idea how fast current decks can be but one thing I can say is that this guy is a bit unfair because you get two of him if you have a cast a spell before you cast him. 

So let us say you cast a one mana cost goblin and then for 3 mana get two 2/3? That has flying and lifelink? Talk about a swing in your favor in limited environments. The Tarkir set features a lot of dragons and some of them can be cast early and may have 3 power as well but Sage of the Skies can race before a dragon even comes out.

Lifelink is no joke after. If it hits just two times(both of them) then you are looking at an upswing of 8 in life total. A good buffer especially if the big creatures on your opponents side of the board are 2 or 3 mana away from being cast. 

Sage of the Skies can block weaker opponents and still gain life for you. The 3 toughness makes sure it will stay around as Tarkir only has Channeled Dragonfire and Twinbolt which only deals 2 damage and with these spells in mind you can only get rid of one of these guys. 

Dragonback Assault might be a good board Sweeper but you have to be playing Temur colors and have 3 mana ready before dishing out 3 damage to all creatures and planeswalkers. By then the monks might have gone to town already. But then again who knows.