Knight of Grace is a great example of Dominaria’s “Time Spiral” Theme

Dominaria: It’s Like Time Spiral Junior

One of the things Patrick and Michael like about Dominaria so far is how it pleasantly references what we love about Magic’s past. Cards like Llanowar Elves and Gaea’s Blessing aside, Dominaria calls up our favorite worlds, from Benalia to Phyrexia, to tell the set’s story.

It’s not just reprints. It’s not just references. Dominaria also updates some favorites! There may be no better example than Knight of Grace.

Knight of Grace: White Knight 2018

White Knight and Black Knight were two of the most iconic creatures in early Magic.

Not only were they each hyper-efficient, they were each “first” … Each Block would add a variation. Order of the Ebon Hand; Order of Leitbur. Order of the White Shield… All the way, eventually, to Knight of Meadowgrain and even more recent updates.

The most recent? Knight of Grace and its opposite number, Knight of Malice.

What’s going on with Knight of Grace?

• First Strike – Beacuse these guys typically have first strike
• Hexproof from Black – Was Protection from Black too powerful?
• The Buff – This ability has some good texture!

The buff ability here works a couple of ways. If this were way back in 1996, enough players might have black creatures that the +1/+0 might be meaningful.

But you can cheat this ability on yourself, if you’re a little mindful.

A B/W creature deck can already enjoy the buff.

But what about off-color cards that you can play without increasing the number of colors…

• Orzhov Guildmage – This creature can be cast with only white mana, but counts as a black permanent.
• Batterskull – The token is black.
• Zombies, various – Both black zombie tokens and white zombie tokens (for Knight of Malice) are readily available in Standard. Again, you might not have to add another color (but get the benefit of another color)

There are more, of course.

To find out more, and which, download the podcast!

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