There is no break from previews. Previews are life, life is previews.

3 CMC strikes me as a very relevant threshold in terms of upping the playability of a planeswalker in vintage. Flashing back two cantrips seems pretty good, middle ability could potentially sting an opposing walker at least, and first ability obviously helps out with the ever-growing roster of powerful walkers out there. Seems good?

Also worth mentioning: this is one of three Chandra planeswalkers previewed today from Core 2020. I didn't find the other two very interesting (for Vintage or just in general), but that probably implies at least fifteen planeswalkers in the next set.

A walker with Cannot be countered on it (her adult version) should at least raise an eyebrow.

Double Snapcaster with added utility is pretty good, but its + ability doesn't actually do anything (unless you have 2nd red walker in play).

@craw_advantage said in [M20] Chandra, Acolyte of Flame:

probably implies at least fifteen planeswalkers in the next set.

Sure we will get at least 1 more broke one then.

@protoaddict here's that one for reference:

It does do some things and not being counterable is good. Six mana is a lot though. Probably someone will do something with it though.

Dack is 100% the most relevant red walker and has massive synergy with Chandra's first 0 ability as well as its -3. Getting to a Dack Emblem is a somewhat underrated accomplishment in my opinion. It's hard to judge the continued viability of 4 total pyroblasts in Jeskai in a pre-london mull Meta; the MTGO results are largely Dredge and Brown while SCG top 16 looked largely blue. In the Jeskai mirror, this card is actually pretty good. It comes at opposing narsets/dacks with 2 dudes, Scores you an extra "azcanta" on your narset, gets an unpressured Dack to emblem 2 turns early (without losing the dack, mind you). As a casual aside, this RFG's opposing Bridge From Below's.

In other formats, this and Nicol Bolas, Dragon God could be pretty nuts, you can ultimate Bolas on the third turn after they are both in play.

How does this benefit Narset? She only pumps red walkers.

@serracollector Whoops, scratch the pump narset part! It does come at opposing Narsets, Dacks, and Karns in a meaningful way though.

T1 Fetch land, mox, wrenn and Six getting back the land
T2 Fetch land, Chandra, tick up her and wrenn and six, get the land back with W&6
T3 Fetch land, Tick up both with chandra, ultimate wrenn and six. Lightning bolts for everyone?

You forgot the part where turn 2 your opponent drew thier deck and won

@p3temangus She pumps Saheeli, which is pretty awesome.

I haven't even had a chance to tinker with my new Goblin Engineers and we are already on Core2020 previews? Oi. I cant even get excited. I still like Chandra from Kaladesh, best.

Rhythm is life. And life is rhythm.

This is better than 3CMC Sarkhan It can't protect itself directly but the -2 is quasi protection if you have a requisite removal spell in your yard and the +0 loyalty moves her to 5 which I believe is 1 higher than any other 3 CMC walker can get to on their initial +. Can't be Pyroblasted which is nice but assuming an existing deck shell like Xerox RR could be hard to come by against Wasteland decks. Even if she is two Flashbacks and gone that's pretty freaking good.

On an unrelated note the art is fucking embarrassing for a game with Magics history of artists.

Here's a Shivan Dragon for people to cleanse their palate with.

Edit: I'm just going to sit out this spoiler season here...

I think the main problem with Chandra is that she is nigh useless vs Shops, Dredge, Survival, Humans and of only marginal value vs combo. The same could be said for JvP though Jace does pull his weight shrinking an attacker or blocking with the "flip trick" every now and then.

In a control shell vs other control decks, is she better than JvP? She can flash back a spell right away (if you have the mana to pay for it) and can flash back two spells in a row, which does seem back-breaking especially in the case of Time Walk in particular. Is it worth the more awkward casting cost and loss of JvP's utility? I'm not convinced.

(She also synergizes with other red Planeswalkers, but IMO if you already have an uncontested Planeswalker in play, boosting them with Chandra is win-more).

I almost never post in spoiler threads, partly because I do set reviews.

But WTF is going on here. There are three sets in three months with likely Vintage playables? This is an insane time to be a Vintage player.

And the - ability in this card is nearly Tiny Jace, without the hassle of having to flip it? AND you get as many activations as Tiny Jace does?

@smmenen said in [M20] Chandra, Acolyte of Flame:

I almost never post in spoiler threads, partly because I do set reviews.

But WTF is going on here. There are three sets in three months with likely Vintage playables? This is an insane time to be a Vintage player.

And the - ability in this card is nearly Tiny Jace, without the hassle of having to flip it? AND you get as many activations as Tiny Jace does?

I mean you are talking about a 1U card vs a 1RR card. Chandra is far more difficult to cast and cannot be pitched to either of the blue forces, and should be more powerful all things considered.

I think that we may just have to consider the fact that walker cards are inherently just so strong because of how they work within the rules and their interaction with other cards that every set likely has something that is in the grey area for vintage. Hell there are walkers from sets from years ago that never saw play that I'm starting to look at again just because they may have a place now.

I mean, for 4 mana (and its blue) Narset, Transcendent would let you double cast 3 spells without extra mana.

@protoaddict said in [M20] Chandra, Acolyte of Flame:

@smmenen said in [M20] Chandra, Acolyte of Flame:

I almost never post in spoiler threads, partly because I do set reviews.

But WTF is going on here. There are three sets in three months with likely Vintage playables? This is an insane time to be a Vintage player.

And the - ability in this card is nearly Tiny Jace, without the hassle of having to flip it? AND you get as many activations as Tiny Jace does?

I mean you are talking about a 1U card vs a 1RR card. Chandra is far more difficult to cast and cannot be pitched to either of the blue forces, and should be more powerful all things considered.

I think that we may just have to consider the fact that walker cards are inherently just so strong because of how they work within the rules and their interaction with other cards that every set likely has something that is in the grey area for vintage. Hell there are walkers from sets from years ago that never saw play that I'm starting to look at again just because they may have a place now.

I mean, for 4 mana (and its blue) Narset, Transcendent would let you double cast 3 spells without extra mana.

Chandra doesn't get Pyroblasted and flashes back your Pyroblast(s). Perhaps this is a mirror breaker for Xerox mirrors where you can fetch Volc/Volc without fear of being Wastelanded. She's also tough to Lightning Bolt if you are conservative.

There’s already a million mirror breakers for Xerox. They can’t fit this 3 mana planeswalker unless it’s better than Dack or Narset.

This also doesn’t do much the turn you cast it, worse than Recoup on a lot of days.

Vintage unplayable, but I could be wrong. I don’t even think Dreadhorde Arsonist is good.

@desolutionist The people who don’t think Dreadhorde Arcanist is good are the people who didn’t think young pyromancer was good.

@desolutionist said in [M20] Chandra, Acolyte of Flame:

There’s already a million mirror breakers for Xerox. They can’t fit this 3 mana planeswalker unless it’s better than Dack or Narset.

This also doesn’t do much the turn you cast it, worse than Recoup on a lot of days.

Vintage unplayable, but I could be wrong. I don’t even think Dreadhorde Arsonist is good.

There are decks other than Xerox and colors other than blue. In a grindy prison deck like Blood Moon this could compliment the Kalidesh Chandra by allowing us to not only pump her but to replay our lightning bolts. It could also enable you to do something like turn on Koth of the Hammers Ultimate a turn after you play him, which is a deck full of mountains seems strong.