Pointed Discussion

Despite not being the best battlemage, it is certainly my favorite. Green rarely offers that much control on its own, so having the ability to tap opponent's creatures is great. And the +2/+0 ability is quite useful, too. But I may like it mostly for the art.

Agreed, the artwork is impeccable.

This card is relatively good. And the ability to make your opponent gawk is vastly underestimated in the game of Magic.

Best Battlemage, Control, Plus Offense = Grade A

The tapping effect is one of the best battlemage effects.

5 for Artwork!!!

my personal fav, its power lies with its simplicity

I like part of it and I dislike another part of it, the 2/0 is perfectly good.. but it wont save my creature if its going to die from lack of toughness, and green usually has most power anyways. The tapping creature is great in general, and certainly doesn't hurt. I'd say third best of the battlemages following jund, then bant. Not really impressed with either grixis battlemage or esper battlemage though.

This will never see tournament play. It's amazing in limited. And it's a nice playable card for the casual player whom plays only at home with his friends (like me). It would find a home in my deck, that's for sure.

Terrible flavor text.

@ Ajani_is_da_man

I disagree. At first I had the same "that's dumb" response, but it makes a somewhat subtle point. As players, we know that there are five schools of magic, but as far as the denizens of each shard are concerned, there are only three schools of magic, and for Naya that's GRW. It makes the point quite effectively that they (Nayans) literally have no conception of what blue or black magic would even look like.

@Ichorix:
I agree with ajani. While I appreciate the cleverness of showing that Nayans have no conception of blue or black mana, the way it was done on this card was pretty lame. Compare to Bant Battlemage, where the flavor text makes light of the use of air magic, yet indicates subtlely that the residents of Bant have no idea how to make magical fire. Much more rewarding than the "ONLY THREE COLORS LOL" text on this card. While the point is made effectively here, it is not made very flavorfully. Last time I checked, the point of flavor text was to be flavorful.

She's kinda hot, and I think those tentacles creeping up her legs agree

The artwork and her printed race seem to disagree with one another... (Look at her ears)

Edit: After looking at her full art, I see now that what I thought were elf ears was just the top crystal of the ones floating beside her. Though from this distance, they are very indistinguishable, IMO.

read: "guildmage"

Maybe she's talking about Control/Combo/Aggro?

Is this...henta tentacle raep!?

"I have trained in all three schools of magic."

*facepalm*

I like the flavor text and didn't have any problem understanding it. Doesn't seem too corny to me. And she's hot.

@tenkaze: Although I like the flavor text, I can understand how it would be considered bad, but it's still flavorful. It carries across the concept of the shards only knowing 3 of the 5 colors (as Ichorix mentions), and in doing so, it is flavorful. That's the meaning of the concept of flavor.

I'd tap that...because she's got great activated abilities.

This mage is lying. She can't work any green magic at all.

(Does she know she's a green creature, somehow? I think she's metagaming.)

I played in one draft for this set, but i could imagine this being a total bomb, probably use the white ability more often than the red, but both seem really powerful

i love how many people read the flavor text and either call it a fail or are simply confused by it.

To sum it up, Alara is split into 5 "shards" Each of those shards have their own mana, but lack 2 colors of mana. the shards are Naya, Bant, Esper, Grixis and Jund.

(the following is copied directly from the wizards site, cause i'm lazy like that)

Naya . Life, passion, community, and the wild—these are what flourish without the influence of black or blue mana. In this lush land, life is celebrated. Instinct triumphs over machination. Here titanic predators are shown respect, while humans, elves, and catfolk called leonin seek to revere and respect nature.

Bant . Without the destructive or selfish impulses of red and black mana, Bant has become a golden utopia. Angels rule the realm with benevolence and grace. Humans and the birdfolk called aven resolve their conflicts with ritualized combat. Duty and honor are the bedrock of this kingdom of light.

Esper . In this world of wind and wave, control is the guiding force. Cut off from the chaos of red and green mana, Esper has become a magocracy. Enigmatic sphinxes counsel powerful wizards and seers. Everything here is observed and controlled. The forces of high magic rule supreme.

Grixis . What becomes of a world without new life? The dark wasteland of Grixis answers the question. Its denizens desperately cling to its remaining lifeforce. Without the communal forces of white and green to bring life and compassion, it's every ghoul, demon, and necromancer for themselves.

Jund . In the absence of white or blue mana, Jund has devolved into a roiling, primordial cesspit. Dragons top the food chain, at home in Jund's countless volcanoes. While dragons stalk the skies, humans, goblins, and the lizardfolk called viashino lie low in Jund's tar-spotted, vine-choked canyons.

To sum it up, Naya lacks blue and black mana, and only have Green, Red, and White mana. As Ichorix said, they have no clue what blue or black mana even looks like.

Dies to Murder.

@BegleOne
I think her 2/2 body is the green school. There is no way a scantly-clad woman with nothing in the way of weapons fights as well as a grizzly bear. All those thorns around her seem to be friendly. I suspect she uses her green magic to use them in combat. Not all magic has to be in the form of an ability. Sometimes it is just the ability to beat face (especially with green).

Don't forget that with Naya's "5+ power matters" theme, +2/+0 can be pretty relevant.

@DarkShinobi No one was confused about her only understanding 3 colours. What people (including me) are facepalming at is the total lack of subtlety in the flavour text. The other battlemages have flavour texts which give you some idea of what their abilities do and how they fit into their respective shards. Bant especially, as tenkaze pointed out, indicates the lack of knowledge regarding magical fire. They all require a varying degree of imagination from the person looking at the card.

All except Naya, who is basically whacking the reader over the head with it. "HEY! HEY PLAYER! 3 COLOURS IS A THING! LOOK!"

My favourite image is still her first confrontation is a blue mage

NM: "Now you fool, i call upon my most powerful beast ally!"
BM: "Nope."
NM: WHOA WAIT WHAT THE *** WAS THAT?!

The green ability is to push green's ubiquitous 3/3s into the range of naya's interaction with power 5 synergy. And it's also pretty good in general as a combat trick. There's something to be said for combat tricks your opponents are fully aware of. And that is that you rarely have to even use the mana for them to trade creatures. So your 3/3s (better with vigilance) can swing into 5/5s all day or prevent those 5/5s from attacking.

Being able to alternatively tap creatures is also amazing. Preventing attacking and blocking is good. Tapping is way better than say the Grixix Battlemage's ability to make creatures unable to block.

While other battlemage's have their uses (I use Bant's in my group hug EDH) deck, I think this one is the most effective.