Dralnu, Lich Lord MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Dralnu, Lich Lord offers a compelling edge for players aiming to leverage their graveyard as a resource. This commander allows you to tap into a vast array of spells you’ve already played, effectively doubling the utility of your instants and sorceries and ensuring a steady stream of options at your disposal.

Resource Acceleration: While Dralnu himself doesn’t generate mana, the ability to replay powerful mana ramp spells from the graveyard can significantly accelerate your resources. This acceleration is crucial for building overwhelming board states or playing high-impact spells much earlier than usual.

Instant Speed: The true power of Dralnu lies in the flexibility of casting spells at instant speed from your graveyard. This capability enables you to adapt swiftly to your opponents’ actions during their turn, maximizing your strategic options and keeping you one step ahead in the contest of wits and tactics.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: As a spellcaster from the depths of the multiverse, Dralnu, Lich Lord, brings with it a certain liability: the imperative to jettison cards from your hand to the graveyard to utilize its full potential. This consequence can be a tangible setback, especially when your arsenal of spells runs thin.

Specific Mana Cost: Wielding the dark energies of Dralnu demands a precise blend of both blue and black mana. This specificity in its cost of deployment confines it to decks that can reliably muster these mana types, potentially excluding it from more flexible or diverse mana bases.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Summoning a being of such eldritch power doesn’t come cheap. Dralnu’s invocation requires a total of five mana, which includes two blue and two black. This cost stands as a notable investment within a player’s curve, and there is an argument to be made about the efficacy of alternatives that might provide similar or greater value for a lower investment.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Dralnu, Lich Lord brings a unique blend to any commander or control deck, offering a strategic advantage by granting access to spells from your graveyard. This means the potential for double the impact on critical spells, which can be game-changing in various settings.

Combo Potential: In the right deck, Dralnu can become part of powerful synergies; imagine pairing it with spells that untap permanents or with cards that protect your graveyard. The potential combinations can lead to infinite loops or game-ending plays, making it a card that combo enthusiasts will want to leverage.

Meta-Relevance: Depending on the fluctuating dynamics of the competitive scene, Dralnu can become a valuable asset against grindy matchups. In metas where long games and attrition wars are common, Dralnu’s ability to recycle high-impact spells from the graveyard can provide the upper hand needed to clinch a victory.

How to beat

Dralnu, Lich Lord is a formidable presence in Magic: The Gathering, offering a unique twist as it allows you to get a second chance at casting your spells from the graveyard. When facing this card, it’s crucial to remember that it gives the opponent significant late-game power. One of the most straightforward strategies to overcome Dralnu is to direct damage to it, forcing the controller to sacrifice permanents. This is due to Dralnu’s downside where any damage dealt to it also affects the player in terms of sacrificed permanents.

Removal spells that bypass Dralnu’s ability are also effective. Utilize exile effects or spells that force your opponent to sacrifice creatures since these do not deal damage and therefore do not trigger Dralnu’s detrimental ability. Moreover, graveyard disruption is a key tactic. Since Dralnu relies on a well-stocked graveyard to maximize its potential, employing cards that exile graveyards can severely cripple its effectiveness, cutting off the very resource it requires to function. Managing Dralnu revolves around carefully timing your removal and disruption to minimize its impact and neutralize the threat effectively.