Ajani Unyielding - Magic the Gathering

Making planeswalkers more loyal.

It's time to breath some life into an old blog, and what better way to start than with a new card for an old character.

First note is, at the time of writing, this guy is the first preview card for the unrealeased set: Aether Revolt. Since I have not seen the full set yet, I can't tell you how Ajani fits in, other than his appearance on Kaladesh was teased with cards like Impeccable Timing.

There has been though five printed Ajani cards up to this one, so I can make some comparisons there. In terms of art, for example, he seems to mostly resemble Ajani Steadfast, with the small blue tassels. And I just realized that an anthropomorphic cat-person has attached multiple tassels to his costume. I guess his next outfit will incorporate balls of yarn.

His first ability reminds me of the second ability of Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, but it has been tweaked to reveal fewer cards but grab more of them. This card's second ability is a Swords to Plowshares, which fits considering the character. It also sort of fits the trend of previous Ajani cards. Most of the others were concerned with making your life total big, and while the ability is meant to be used more offensively, there is nothing stopping you from exiling your own creatures and collecting the life.

The third ability is where we get interesting. It is based on the second ability of Ajani Steadfast, but it has been multiplied by five and upgraded to an ultimate ability. The part of the ability I like the most though is the one that gives your other planeswalkers loyalty. Cards that affect planeswalkers tend to be rarer, both in terms of the rarities they're printed at and the number of cards printed with such abilities. So I like that this ability does something that cards don't normally do, and with the upscaled ability it makes the whole thing feel a lot more special. This ability also fits the character, since Ajani has partnered multiple times with other planeswalkers.