Coolest artwork ever!!! would be an extremely powerful card in the right hands.... that being said, i feel as thought there are probably few "right hands".
Considering using this with Catalyst Stone and cards to get the Stone in play such as Tinker. Then I would use Lightning Greaves to protect Dralnu from getting damaged from most sources. Then I would use cards with dredge such as Darkblast to get targets to cast into my graveyard. I would either try to flashback or hard cast a Morality Shift to get many targets into my graveyard. In the deck I would have large spells such as Plague Wind or Wit's End that I might not normally play.
Cinsider this, Dralnu in play, use Tinker and sac a cheap artifact such as Ornithopter or Seat of the Synod to get the Catalyst stone into play, now target the Tinker in my graveyard with Dralnu and pay one blue (the cost of Tinker reduced by 2) to get another Catalyst Stone into play. Now flashback is reduced by 4 for other instants and sorceries in my graveyard.
Probably not a great deck my any means but fun for casual play.
Tommy9898
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(2 votes)
To bad there is no "cycle: sacrifice a creature" type spells, then you could get rid of him quickly as a last-ditch effort. Hmm, come to think of it, last-ditch effort could work.
RafiqTheMiststalker
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(5 votes)
Flashback is great in BU mill. Glimpse the Unthinkable and Mind Funeral would be good. If you really wanted, you could even Traumatize. This deserves a higher rating for coolness factor and usefulness.
Zoah
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Just make sure you have something to get rid of him before you opponent uber smokes him with a Shivan meteor
Echoes_of_Deception
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Heart of Light works wonders with this guy.
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Good with instants and sorceries that have Transmute or Cycling. If they DO somehow shivan meteor him, float three mana for Bitter Ordeal. then hope for the best in your draws, because youre gonna need land :P
Th3_Dark_On3
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(5 votes)
If you cast a card with buyback with this, can you still buy it back or will it be exiled first?
Arthindole
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Even just casting darkrituals with this guy is awesome...way underrated.
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Th3_Dark_On3: Flashback causes it to be exiled the moment it leaves the stack. You could pay the buyback cost, but it would get exiled when it resolved anyway.
thor0625
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy is a great challenge to build a deck with, but for fun, im going to pair it with sedris the traitor king, and for protection, i'll use clout of dominus.. hehe
Hayw00d0909
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
This guy can make for some fun times.
But I highly recommend equiping him with Lightning Greaves or something to shroud him. Otherwise a simple Lightning Bolt can set your board position back a good three or so turns.
@ tommy, wait so your playing black and blue but are having trouble getting rid of your own creature??? there's something wrong with you.
first of all black has a million and one ways to sacrifice a creature (or permanent) and get something out of it better than 1 damage secondly blue can always return it to your hand or even exile it (and occasionally get a bonus for doing such things as well)
Phantom_of_the_FNM
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(5 votes)
I've built an entire extended archetype around this card, with amazing matchups against nearly the entire field. Then the format became New Extended. Use this with fog effects, with Luminesce and Safe Passage main to protect from burn. Play like turbo fog at first, with howling mines, etc. Eventually get Dralnu out, and recur fogs pretty much forever. Mark of Asylum can protect Dralnu, and you finish either with constant milling or through a pair of Luminarch Ascension. It beat Thopter/Depths reliably, as they rarely had burn. It could easily beat most combo decks thanks to things like Luminesce. Zoo was annoying, but still reliably winnable, as their burn was hated out main deck and otherwise they couldn't really do anything. It was really great. Pity Dralnu isn't even Extended legal anymore.
starcrusher
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i like flashbacking a nice milling spell or two....but i wouldnt use him unless i could put a gaseous form on him or something of the like that would prevent damage dealt to him.
Tetsu_tora
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have him in a deck currently abusing dark rits, lobotomies and drain life spells...it's awesome.
Was thinking Vanishing might be a neat solution to saving his zombie bacon.
metalevolence
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Counter everything, then counter it again.
Rikiaz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dralnu is perfect in Reanimator decks using Traumatize on yourself. Get Dralnu, Dread Return and some other targets and Reanimator spells in your graveyard. Flash Dread Return back and reanimate Dralnu, then use Dralnu to play the Reanimation spells from your graveyard returning your other targets to the field.
I wish this card was more generally powerful and not as niche - that artwork is just so amazing. If the drawback wasn't so enormously disadvantageous, he'd be my Commander all day long.
I hate that drawback, but thats a pretty awesome ability. Watch out for them meteors though.
dingophone
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I kinda like running him as a general. Flashbacking Time Warp and Time Stop is always fun.
penguinmage25
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
woah
Fitzpam4
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wait. Is it just me or does this make cards like Goblin Grenade really really good? I'm not too familiar with how the rules work but that says "its flashback cost becomes equal to its mana cost as you play it". Is "as an additional cost to play goblin grenade, sacrifice a goblin" included in the cards mana cost, or do you just get a really strong shock?
Kindulas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
AMAZING art, my favorite part is probably the way he's holding the weapon. With all the new hexproof equipment out now, lightning greaves isn't the only (albeit still best) way to protect him, making him a much more viable general.
Also I like that it dosn't say "prevent that damage, then sac that many permanents," that way not eve leyline of punishment can make him venerable
Cyberium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Unless your opponent plays burn spells, Dralnu doesn't get damaged that easily, you certainly won't attack/block with it normally, i.e., this card is safer than it looks.
Dragon5911
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It is a damage replacement effect not damage prevention.
A0602
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
What happens if I use him to cast something like Beacon of Unrest? It is part of the spell's effect that it be shuffled into the library, but does the flashback exile overrule this?
Also, I was thinking that with Necrotic Ooze; I can use Dralnu without being afraid of his secondary effect.
EDIT: Also, now you can use him to cast ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE from your graveyard.
@AO6O2: I do believe that were that to happen, it would indeed work. Although, it getting into your graveyard in the first place seems rather unusual.
I love this guy. He's definitely an EDH waiting to happen. Perhaps with the new Increasing cycle from DKA? There's a metric tonne of exploitability here.
DoragonShinzui
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is a...fairly well made legend. I mean it, I like this guy, and for the most part I hate things like this. If you can protect him, he's a valuable tool for re-blastings folks. Especially with things like, perhaps, Corrupt. Brutal. Very brutal.
Justice1337
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have a feeling that this card would be run a LOT more if it didn't have its drawback. But here's the thing. In EDH, no one runs burn for spot removal. Sometimes a card like Blasphemous Act will be played, but even in that event, you are probably running a deck with a few sac outlets. Given that, this thing is like a Havengul Lich for spells.
Do it like a man. Equip a Sword and swing in for balls factor.
Kaixe-Rho
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Look at this guy. LOOK AT HIM You TELL me he isn't the most fitting EDH general ever. That art، that cape, that smug stance. And if he's going down, da. mned if he isn't taking your entire field with him. I mean for crap's sake, he may be a wizard now but he has LORD written on his subtype line. He is built to rule over your B/U control deck.
I'm building a mostly innistrad/DA Zombie swarm control deck, he's at the helm like a boss. It could be grimgrin. It could be Mikaeus, The Unhallowed. No, it's him, because I want to counter kill everything. Let's just hope I can get magebane armor, so I don't have to kill myself thanks to burn.
bay_falconer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy is really good. I want to make an EDH deck out of him.
If you're havin draw problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a lich ain't one
Averyck
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
and thus i hold onto that Go for the Throat I'd been saving. Oh, you lightning bolt him? GftT. -next turn- Shenanigans again? Flashback GftT. Suck it. Makes a wonderful EDH general. Running him in a U/B sliver control deck. Pretty interesting when I've got 4 blue mana open and someone couterspells my counterspell
Dralnu's drawback is actually referencing a even older card from Alpha beta, Lich. Not phyrexian negator. The fact that he doesn't die from damage suggests this more than the drawback from Negator. Nice history on the card though. And other than that you are very right. :)
TheWrathofShane
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Pretty badass card.
DarthParallax
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Lord Voldemort, in cardboard form.
Doom Blade= AK Lightning Bolt= Cruciatus Control Magic= Imperius
Missile_Penguin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Each Time Spiral card was an homage to at least one previously printed card. The legendary creatures in these sets were also all characters from previous sets who had yet to see print.
This card depicts the risen Metathran necromancer Dralnu, a nefarious member of the Coalition during Invasion block, who was supposedly slain for his treachery (obviously they either didn't finish him off or he escaped through a time rift.) This card is arguably referencing Phyrexian Negator as well as the entire Flashback mechanic (possibly drawing a tie between it and creature reanimating effects.)
Given that Metathran is now an official creature type, his type line should probably be errata'd to Creature - Metathran Zombie Wizard
stanfonz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A friend of mine had a Dralnu EDH deck that was built around Dark Depths/Marit Lage. Pretty fun and a good deck, until somebody Alpha Brawl'd Lage while Dralnu was out... Needless to say, he switched his general to Wrexial, The Risen Deep shortly after that little incident.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Counterspells + Kill spells + recursion = Pretty much ur ded.
patronofthesound
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@th3 darkon3
It's iffy. On one hand, it should work because the buyback is just like a kicker cost. On the other, part of the flashback cost is exiling the card. My guess is the flashback effect takes priority so the buyback would fizzle. Ask a judge to be sure, and certainly post results here.
BearClaw13
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I run this guy as an EDH general and I can say he is a certified BALLER. Make sure you run spells with cycling such as Rescind and Expunge. You may not need them early in the game, but you will be able to use them later once you get Dralnu out. It's already been mentioned, but Magebane Armor is a must, since it protects him from burn spells that hit all creatures, such as Pyroclasm. Other artifacts to run include Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Catalyst Stone, and Altar of the Lost. Going zombie tribal (i.e. Geralf's Mindcrusher) isn't a bad idea either, since you will definitely have to get creatures back from your graveyard, espeically if you opt to power-mill youself with cards like Traumatize, Mirror-Mad Phantasm, or Morality Shift. I mention the creatures because you absolutely will NEED blockers for this deck (unless you're willing to blow all your removal on mediocre creatures), plus it helps to have some beef on hand to smash face, since Dralnu won't be doing that for you. Finally, make sure you have at least one brutal spell which can win you the game if it starts to drag on. Sorin's Vengeance is one my favorites, but keep it in your hand if you can: playing a spell twice is better than playing it once. Be warned, YOU WILL NOT MAKE FRIENDS with this deck.
TezzieAgentOfWoona
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dralnu's ability preventing damage refers to cards like Lich, Lich's Tomb and their ilk. Basically, being a lich means you don't lose life (because you're already dead, duh) but you lose your... I think they're called "Phylacteries"? Horcruxes, basically. Little bits of your soul in material objects.
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Good target for General's Kabuto. As if this guy needs to look even more badass.
absreim
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think this card would be quite good in Modern midrange or control decks if red weren't the most played color in the format.
legendary_orp
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ Missile_Penguin Although it's first ability could be referencing Phyrexian Negator, it's much more likely that it is referencing Lich.
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dralnu is a great card. Yes, if he gets bolted, you lose three permanents, but he doesn't die because all damage dealt to him is prevented. Besides, not all decks have burn in them, and even if they do, you should have counterspells (which Dralnu allows you to cast from your graveyard).
Comments (54)
Shivan meteor'd.
Cinsider this, Dralnu in play, use Tinker and sac a cheap artifact such as Ornithopter or Seat of the Synod to get the Catalyst stone into play, now target the Tinker in my graveyard with Dralnu and pay one blue (the cost of Tinker reduced by 2) to get another Catalyst Stone into play. Now flashback is reduced by 4 for other instants and sorceries in my graveyard.
Probably not a great deck my any means but fun for casual play.
If they DO somehow shivan meteor him, float three mana for Bitter Ordeal. then hope for the best in your draws, because youre gonna need land :P
But I highly recommend equiping him with Lightning Greaves or something to shroud him. Otherwise a simple Lightning Bolt can set your board position back a good three or so turns.
I'd rather use Toshiro Umezawa.
there's something wrong with you.
first of all black has a million and one ways to sacrifice a creature (or permanent) and get something out of it better than 1 damage secondly blue can always return it to your hand or even exile it (and occasionally get a bonus for doing such things as well)
Use this with fog effects, with Luminesce and Safe Passage main to protect from burn. Play like turbo fog at first, with howling mines, etc. Eventually get Dralnu out, and recur fogs pretty much forever. Mark of Asylum can protect Dralnu, and you finish either with constant milling or through a pair of Luminarch Ascension.
It beat Thopter/Depths reliably, as they rarely had burn. It could easily beat most combo decks thanks to things like Luminesce. Zoo was annoying, but still reliably winnable, as their burn was hated out main deck and otherwise they couldn't really do anything.
It was really great. Pity Dralnu isn't even Extended legal anymore.
Was thinking Vanishing might be a neat solution to saving his zombie bacon.
Love it in Grixis Colors with Anger too.
I use him in my Sedris Commander deck personally
well, its a lot less "niche" now!
Also I like that it dosn't say "prevent that damage, then sac that many permanents," that way not eve leyline of punishment can make him venerable
Also, I was thinking that with Necrotic Ooze; I can use Dralnu without being afraid of his secondary effect.
EDIT: Also, now you can use him to cast ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE from your graveyard.
Although, it getting into your graveyard in the first place seems rather unusual.
I love this guy. He's definitely an EDH waiting to happen. Perhaps with the new Increasing cycle from DKA? There's a metric tonne of exploitability here.
If you can protect him, he's a valuable tool for re-blastings folks. Especially with things like, perhaps, Corrupt. Brutal. Very brutal.
Do it like a man. Equip a Sword and swing in for balls factor.
LOOK AT HIM
You TELL me he isn't the most fitting EDH general ever.
That art، that cape, that smug stance. And if he's going down, da. mned if he isn't taking your entire field with him.
I mean for crap's sake, he may be a wizard now but he has LORD written on his subtype line.
He is built to rule over your B/U control deck.
I'm building a mostly innistrad/DA Zombie swarm control deck, he's at the helm like a boss.
It could be grimgrin. It could be Mikaeus, The Unhallowed. No, it's him, because I want to counter kill everything.
Let's just hope I can get magebane armor, so I don't have to kill myself thanks to burn.
If you're havin draw problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a lich ain't one
Dralnu's drawback is actually referencing a even older card from Alpha beta, Lich. Not phyrexian negator. The fact that he doesn't die from damage suggests this more than the drawback from Negator. Nice history on the card though. And other than that you are very right. :)
Doom Blade= AK
Lightning Bolt= Cruciatus
Control Magic= Imperius
This card depicts the risen Metathran necromancer Dralnu, a nefarious member of the Coalition during Invasion block, who was supposedly slain for his treachery (obviously they either didn't finish him off or he escaped through a time rift.) This card is arguably referencing Phyrexian Negator as well as the entire Flashback mechanic (possibly drawing a tie between it and creature reanimating effects.)
Given that Metathran is now an official creature type, his type line should probably be errata'd to Creature - Metathran Zombie Wizard
Needless to say, he switched his general to Wrexial, The Risen Deep shortly after that little incident.
It's iffy. On one hand, it should work because the buyback is just like a kicker cost. On the other, part of the flashback cost is exiling the card. My guess is the flashback effect takes priority so the buyback would fizzle. Ask a judge to be sure, and certainly post results here.
Although it's first ability could be referencing Phyrexian Negator, it's much more likely that it is referencing Lich.