Card Talk 14

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the fourteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Immersturm Predator

Hmmmm . . . Immersturm Predator. A rare multi-color creature from Kaldheim.

Immersturm Predator has two creature types: Vampire and Dragon. That can make it handy in both kinds of tribal/typal/kindred decks. And both are popular; There have been 403 Vampire creatures and 343 Dragon creatures printed to date, many of them in black and/or red. Options abound for these creature types.

Immersturm Predator's ability is intriguing. It can tap two ways: by attacking or sacrificing another creature. Either way, when that happens, two abilities trigger: exile a card from a graveyard and put a +1/+1 counter on it. Both are nice abilities. And when the sacrifice route is chosen, it gains indestructible to boot. That is a powerful ability—one I found difficult to play against. This guy is hard to take out.

Note the card frame: this is an extended art card. These started in 2018, with Ultimate Masters, and have been a staple in releases ever since. On the one hand, I enjoy that the art it more prominent (and you see more of it; see the standard frame below and note the differences). On the other hand, it makes collecting that much harder/more annoying. So many versions of the same card are now released in the same set. Through in different kinds of foils, and things are getting insane.

Kaldheim was released in February 2021. I had high hopes for the set based on its theme (Nordic mythology). It brought back snow lands. I was mostly pleased, but thought it didn't capitalize on the snow concept enough (46 cards in the set mention it, but 17 of those are lands, and there were almost no 'anti-snow' cards). I share more thoughts on the set here. The one thing I did love was its Angels; they continue to be staples in my decks so themed.

Immersturm means "always stormy" in German. I had to chuckle at that. There are often Easter eggs hidden in Magic cards, but rarely based on language.