Soul of the Rapids MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Soul of the Rapids enhances your board presence with its ability to provide a flying creature, which can be a key component in maintaining dominance in the aerial combat zone. Flying creatures in MTG are often difficult to block, making them valuable for consistent damage delivery and for evading your opponent’s defenses.

Resource Acceleration: The inclusion of Soul of the Rapids in your deck doesn’t directly translate to traditional resource acceleration like ramp or treasure tokens. However, its low mana cost for a 3/2 flying creature can be looked at as an efficient resource investment, offering a formidable presence in the air for a relatively minimal cost.

Instant Speed: Although Soul of the Rapids is not an instant, its hexproof ability gives it a quasi-instant speed advantage. Hexproof protects it from your opponent’s targeted spells and abilities, which means you can deploy the card without fear of it being immediately removed. This enables you to set up your defenses or attacks with more assurance that your creature will survive until your next turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Soul of the Rapids presents no discard demands, thus this common downside isn’t an issue. Instead, it offers an enchantment-based ability that can bolster your gameplay.

Specific Mana Cost: This creature card necessitates both blue mana and generic mana, making it most suited for decks that can reliably produce blue mana, potentially limiting its adaptability.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of five mana including two blue, Soul of the Rapids might be considered costly given its base stats and abilities. Players may find more impactful creatures or spells at a similar mana investment.

Reasons to Include Soul of the Rapids in Your Collection

Versatility: Soul of the Rapids can be a versatile addition to decks that benefit from flying creatures. Its ability to evade many common blockers can make it a persistent threat on the board.

Combo Potential: This card plays well with auras and equipment that enhance flying creatures, as well as with blue-based strategies focusing on controlling the skies. Its hexproof ability also provides resilience against targeted removal, giving it staying power that’s excellent in combo setups.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where control decks are prevalent, Soul of the Rapids can serve as a reliable win condition that dodges many of the common removal spells. Its presence in a deck forces opponents to adjust their strategies, dedicating more resources to manage the aerial threat it poses.

How to beat

Soul of the Rapids stands out in MTG as a creature that offers both flying and hexproof abilities. These features make it a relatively formidable card to encounter, providing it with a level of evasion and protection from targetable spells. Despite this, facing Soul of the Rapids on the battlefield is not without counterplay strategies. The key is to employ board wipes or spells that deal damage to all creatures, as these bypass hexproof due to not targeting individual creatures directly. Cards like Sweltering Suns and Ritual of Soot can clear the board without needing to target the elusive Soul of the Rapids.

Additionally, controlling the pace of the game is vital. Implementing cards that alter the combat dynamics can neutralize the threat posed by this enchanting creature. A deck that can outpace the opponent by applying early pressure or managing creature threats efficiently will reduce the impact of Soul of the Rapids in the match. Thus, a blend of board control, strategic removal, and tempo can ensure that Soul of the Rapids does not become an insurmountable obstacle in your path to victory.